JBRARY] 

UNivERsiry  OF       I 

CALIFO«f«A  I 

SAN  DIEGO    J 


if. 


a? 


JD6 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  ■  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  I;n>. 
TORONTO 


% 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ESPECIALLY   IN   ITS  RURAL    RELATIONSHIPS 


BY 
HARLAN  PAUL  ^OUGLASS 

Secretary  American  Missionary  Association 
Author  of  "The  New  Home  Missions,"  etc. 


I13ett)  gork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1919 

AU  rights  reserved 


COPTEiaHT,  1919 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published,  March,  1919 


V         0 


o 

c5 


TO 

SEVEN  LITTLE  IOWA  TOWNS 

OSAGK.  CLEAR  LAKE.  GRINNELL.  BLAIRSBURG. 

TIPTON.  MANSON  AND  AMES-ALSO  TO 

MACHIAS.  MAINE 


PREFACE 

This  book  has  grown  out  of  the  author's  interest  in 
rural  process.  For  a  number  of  years,  in  common 
with  large  numbers  of  his  fellow  Americans,  he  has  been 
thinking  and  talking — sometimes  publicly — about  this 
great  problem.  As  his  thinking  gradually  clarified  he 
became  aware  that  neither  he  nor  the  others  were  deal- 
ing adequately  with  the  phase  of  American  life  which 
he  knew  most  about  by  experience,  namely,  the  life  of 
the  little  town.  There  is  a  new  wealth  of  impulse  and 
inspiration  for  the  dweller  in  the  open  country.  Most 
of  it  is  equally  applicable  to  the  little  town.  But  the 
author  does  not  feel  that,  in  its  present  form,  it  would 
greatly  encourage  him  if  he  were  still  living  in  such  a 
town. 

This  book  attempts  to  suggest  in  what  infinite  variety 
the  gospel  of  rural  progress  applies  to  the  little  town. 
Country-life  evangelists  do  not  ordinarily  regard  it  as 
any  part  of  their  business  to  address  the  town  directly — 
unless  to  scold  it.  They  treat  it  rather  as  an  incidental, 
and  indeed  a  trivial  thing.  The  ruralist  priest  and 
equally  the  urban  Levite  have  their  own  important  busi- 
ness. They  lend  a  glance  to  the  little  town's  needs,  but 
pass  by  on  the  other  side.  At  most  they  only  toss  a 
casual  word  in  its  direction,  to  which  the  little  town  can 
only  reply,  "Did  you  speak  to  me?     I  am  not  conscious 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

of  answering  to  your  description.  I  do  not  recog^iize  my- 
self as  coming  under  your  classifications." 

This  book  on  the  contrary  aims  first  of  all  to  address 
the  little  town  mind  directly.  It  proposes  its  solutions 
in  terms  of  little  town  qualities  and  capacities.  It  tries 
to  direct  the  deluge  of  civic  good  counsel  and  to  apply 
its  multitude  of  helpful  suggestions  in  such  fashion  that 
the  little  town  will  have  to  say,   "This  means  me." 

Secondly,  the  book  seeks  to  discover  and  release  new 
motive  for  civic  betterment'.  It  does  not  expect  the 
little  town  to  improve  simply  because  of  intellectual 
conviction  that  it  ought  to  be  improved.  There  will  be 
no  adequate  motive  without  new  vision.  In  itself  the 
little  town  is  indeed  incidental  and  largely  decrepit  and 
dying.  But  the  author,  for  one,  is  convinced  that  in 
it  lies  most  of  the  natural  leadership  for  the  betterment 
of  the  open  country.  The  rural  progress  cause  hangs 
on  the  fortunes  of  the  little  towns.  Their  interests  need 
radical  re-direction  countryward.  Let  the  town  become 
rurally-minded  and  it  will  tap  fresh  streams  of  purpose 
and  find  vast  re-enforcement  for  its  own  struggle.  The 
big,  romantic,  beautiful  country,  the  home  of  most  of 
the  American  people,  the  cradle  of  its  ancient  virtues, 
the  seedbed  of  social  permanencies  and  strength,  the 
source  of  daily  bread  for  us  all — the  country  is  infi- 
nitely worth  redeeming.  But  if  the  country,  then  also 
the  little  town,  the  country's  capital.  Doubtless  it  can 
be  saved  only  in  the  consciousness  of  its  relationship  to 
country  interests.  Reverently  it  must  say  "For  their 
sakes  I  sanctify  myself. ' ' 

The  author  would  hardly  have  ventured  on  just 
another    civic    improvement    book.     No    originality    is 


PREFACE  ix 

claimed  for  the  specific  items  in  the  current  program 
of  town  betterment.  Yet  one  can  not  but  feel  the  strange 
lack  of  comprehensiveness  and  logic  in  the  existing  litera- 
ture as  a  whole.  The  betterment  hints  crowding  the 
pages  of  periodicals  are  necessarily  presented  piecemeal. 
Books  are  often  thrown  together  with  many  vital  inter- 
ests lacking.  In  contrast  with  this  the  author  has  tried 
to  supply  implicitly  at  least  the  ghost  of  a  theory  of 
democratic  civic  progress  and  has  aimed  at  some  sys- 
tematic consideration  of  civic  problems  in  their  essential 
relationships.  If  the  results  are  of  value  it  is  not  for 
system's  sake,  but  as  an  aid  to  clearness  of  exposition 
and  as  a  point  of  departure. 

As  to  form  and  matter  alike  I  have  profited  greatly 
by  the  discussions  of  the  substance  of  the  book  by  a  group 
of  Oregon  teachers  and  clergjTnen,  before  whom  it  was 
originally  presented.  I  am  indebted  to  many  thinkers 
in  the  rural  life  field,  with  the  apparent  philosophy  of 
most  of  whom  I  am  not  able  to  agree.  Especially  is  my 
thanks  due  to  my  colleague  in  the  American  Missionary 
Association,  Miss  Lura  Beam,  whose  intelligent,  sjth- 
pathetic  and  persistent  help  has  made  this  book  finally 
possible. 

New  York,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    The  Little  Town 3 

II    The  Town's  Relationships  and  Prospects  .     .  26 

III  The  Town's  Country 50 

IV  The  Town's  People 75 

V    The    Town's    Possibilities:     Structural    Fun- 
damentals        96 

VI    The  Town's  Possibilities:    Institutions     .     .  121 

VII    The  Town's  Possibilities:     Ideals     ....  155 

VIII    The  Town's  Tools 180 

IX     The  Town's  Program 211 

Bibliography     . 245 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Somewhere  in  America Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAQB 

The  Farmer  in  Town 16 

Town  Beginnings 56 

Natural  Communities  in  a  Wisconsin  County  ....  62 

Home  and  "Down  Town" 78 

Social  Segregation  of  Industrial  Populations  within  Small 

Communities 90 

Civic  Center  of  Fairfield,  Alabama 102 

Replanning  an  Old  Town 104 

Treasure   House   and    Treasure 122 

An  Ancient  New  England  Church 166 

Pageant    Scenes    as    Given    by    a    School    for    Southern 

Highlanders 178 

Natural   Communities  as  the  Basis  for  J^ducational  Re- 
organization       202 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Somewhere  between  the  country  and  city  lies  that 
which  is  neither,  but  which  partakes  on  a  petty  scale 
of  the  nature  of  both — the  little  town.  After  the  iso- 
lation of  one  leaves  off,  but  before  the  congestion  of  the 
other  begins,  comes  this  neuter,  sharing  the  contempt 
which  follows  its  class.  The  world  regards  it  as  a 
sort  of  unsexed  creature ;  or  at  best,  as  a  negligible  buffer 
state — a  Belgium  or  a  Poland — impotent  between  its 
mighty  neighbours,  with  few  rights  which  they  are  bound 
to  respect. 

There  are  twelve  thousand  such  places  in  the  United 
States,  their  life  characterized  by  simple  complexity, 
their  people  a  distinct  and  mediating  human  ty^e. 
More  than  twelve  million  Americans  live  in  them  and 
they  supply  the  fundamental  institutions  of  civilization 
for  uncounted  millions  more. 

As  they  have  collectively  impressed  the  nation,  these 
petty  places  have  won  two  verdicts  which  have  become 
a  by-word  and  an  example :  the  little  to^vn  is  ugly ;  the 
little  town  is  bad.     "That  abomination,  the  shameless, 

3 


4  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

unpatriotic,  filthy  small  town,"  exclaims  the  president 
of  the  American  Civic  Association.  "God  made  the 
country,  man  the  city,  but  the  devil  the  little  town": 
so  runs  the  damnatory  proverb. 

There  is  much  to  superficial  view  which  seemingly 
justifies  these  verdicts,  and  too  much  of  fundamental 
truth,  which  the  farther  discussion  must  needs  confess. 
But  neither  the  memories  of  the  Seven  Towns  which  are 
the  background  of  this  book,  nor  yet  the  systematic 
studies  which  it  has  involved,  persuade  the  author  that 
popular  opinion  in  this  matter  is  either  adequate  or  fair. 
The  little  town  is  of  one  piece  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  something  between  the  Worst  and  the  Best,  a 
fair  field  for  Honour  and  Dishonour,  and  capable  of  be- 
ing made  at  least  a  little  better.  How  much  more  than 
a  little  the  succeeding  chapters  attempt  to  reveal. 

THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 

Inadequacy  of  "Urban"  vs.  "Rural."  The  parsi- 
monious instinct  of  the  human  mind  impels  it  to  classify 
everything  as  either  this  or  that.  Thus,  in  the  United 
States  Census  the  entire  population  is  by  residence 
either  "urban"  or  "rural."  This  classification  ignores 
the  little  town  and  obscures  its  significance.  True  the 
Census  has  had  an  uneasy  conscience  on  this  point,  shift- 
ing the  boundary  between  city  and  country  now  from 
eight-thousand  population  to  four-thousand,  and  from 
four-thousand  to  twenty-five  hundred;  and  all  along 
confessing  (in  small  type)  that  there  is  a  third  some- 
thing not  justly  dealt  with  in  its  divisions.  Neverthe- 
less this  general  usage  prevails.  The  whole  of  America 
is  either  country  or  city ;  and  the  little  town,  in  thought, 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  5 

is  divided  between  the  two  or  temporarily  attached  now 
to  the  one,  now  to  the  other. 

Serious  thinking  on  social  matters  ought  not  to  have 
been  caught  by  this  superficiality  of  classification.  Its 
business  was  to  be  fundamental  and  to  avoid  inaccurate 
popular  distinctions.  But  on  the  whole  it  has  followed 
blindly.  There  are  hundreds  of  studies  of  all  aspects 
of  the  urban  and  the  rural  problems,  from  which  in- 
formation applicable  to  the  little  town  may  be  sifted; 
but  no  literature  of  the  little  town  itself  exists,  except 
in  faintest  beginnings. 

The  City's  Neglect  and  Contempt.  From  the  urban 
viewpoint  the  little  town  is  colourless  and  insignificant. 
The  city  has  its  own  magnificent  advocates  and  inter- 
preters, who  condescend  occasionally  to  the  little-town 
point  of  view.  Thus  The  American  City  in  191.S  began 
rather  apologetically  a  minor  department  under  the  cap- 
tion "Town  and  Village,"  in  which  the  civic  interests 
of  the  smaller  municipalities  were  featured.  By  1915 
the  department  had  developed  into  a  separate  edition 
of  this  periodical,  devoting  ten  or  a  dozen  pages  per 
month  to  the  distinctive  interest  of  the  smaller  places. 
But  in  the  main  the  city  is  not  interested  to  think  out 
civic  problems  on  the  little-town  scale.  If,  for  example, 
there  are  four  corners  to  be  improved,  it  likes  to  assume 
that  the  land  is  worth  $12,000  per  acre  and  the  im- 
provements $35,000  per  corner — which  quite  possibly 
is  more  than  the  total  phj'sical  value  of  the  little  town. 
Yet  the  little  town  has  its  own  four  corners.  The  city 
is  too  busy  and  too  proud  to  tell  it  how  to  treat  them. 
Moreover  it  naturally  views  the  little  town  through  its 
own  eyes,  as  a  rather  contemptible  miniature  of  itself, 


6  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

rather    than    in    its    profounder    rural    relationships. 

The  Country's  Equivocation.  It  is  at  the  hands  of 
the  country-life  movement,  however,  that  the  little  town 
has  suffered  most  unreasonably.  That  movement  is  im- 
measurably important  and  justly  popular.  But  it  is 
guilty  of  an  amazing  looseness  of  utterance  in  matters 
concerning  which  it  feels  most  deeply.  Eural  better- 
ment, rural  beauty,  rural  co-operation,  the  country  home, 
the  country  school,  the  country  church, — all  are  equiv- 
ocal terms  because  usually  they  do  not  tell  whether 
they  concern  the  life  of  the  village  centre  or  the  strik- 
ingly dissimilar  life  of  the  open  farm  land.  In  its 
most  authoritative  current  interpretations,  a  country 
church  is  any  church  in  a  community  of  less  than 
twenty-five  hundred  people ;  no  matter  how  differently 
the  people  feel — and  they  feel  very  differently  indeed 
— or  how  differently  they  act  from  the  people  of  the 
open  country. 

So  far  as  it  at  all  acknowledges  the  little  town  as  a 
distinct  phenomenon,  the  rural  life  movement  does  so 
only  to  execrate  or  bewail.  The  farmer  is  its  hero; 
the  middleman  its  villain.  Around  these  two  it  has 
written  a  thrilling  plot,  which  while  interesting  is  not 
wholly  true  to  fact.  An  official  partisanship  for  the 
extreme  rustic  aspect  of  non -urban  life  has  developed. 
It  has  rooted  in  some  of  the  departments  of  the  Federal 
Government,  and  has  already  become  pernicious,  be- 
cause it  is  hardening  into  a  social  philosophy  dictating 
practical  policies.  The  consequences  of  some  of  these 
policies  are  acute. 

Dogmatic  Ruralism.  The  deeper  characteristics  of 
the  prevailing  philosophy  of  ruralism  sharply  contrast 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  7 

with  its  attractive  superficial  impressions.  Its  domi- 
nant tendencies  are  admirably  summarized  by  Prof.  C.  J. 
Galpin:  *'  'Keep  the  boy  on  the  farm.'  There  goes 
with  this  cry  the  demand  that  the  farm  home  shall  be 
'brighter,'  country  schools  shall  be  'redirected  toward 
the  land,'  business  shall  be  'co-operative,'  religion  shall 
be  'social.'  This  program  of  pure  ruralism  when  sifted 
shows  a  characteristic  kernel,  namely,  segregation  of 
the  farm  population ;  keep  the  farmer  a  pure  country 
man;  erect  his  schools  in  cornfields;  build  his  churches 
in  the  far  open ;  create  an  agricultural  class  conscious- 
ness ;  restrict  farm  business  largely  to  co-operation  of 
farmers;  in  fine,  do  the  American  farm  population  up 
in  tinfoil.  "1 

Cornfield  High  Schools.  Consider  how  this  philoso- 
phy works  out  in  the  immeasurably  important  field  of 
public  education.  Where  for  example,  is  the  country 
boy's  high  school  to  be  found?  The  towns  have  high 
schools;  the  state  may  permit  the  townships  to  send 
their  children  to  them  at  public  expense  or  may  encour- 
age the  town  to  gather  the  surrounding  country  with  it 
into  a  legal  high  school  district.  The  rabid  rural  par- 
tisan will  have  none  of  this.  The  town's  high  schools 
are  so  distrusted  by  him  that  he  seriously  proposes  to 
ignore  them  with  its  other  institutions,  and  to  establish 
throughout  America  a  complete,  duplicatory  series  of 
rural  high  schools,  whose  environment  and  outlook  shall 
be  exclusively  agricultural.^  It  will  be  expensive  at 
least  to  allow  this  demand  and  to  ignore  the  fact  that 
the  town  is  already  the  natural  centre  of  the  very  rural 

1  University  of  Wisconsin  Research  Bulletin  Xo.  34,  p.  32. 
2Betts  and  Hall,  "Better  Rural  Schools,"  p.  259  S;  Foght,  "The 
American  Rural  School,"  p.  320  flF. 


8  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

life  which  it  is  proposed  to  keep  away  from  it.  For 
sheer  economy's  sake  it  would  seem  better  to  study  how 
to  improve  and  to  utilize  the  little  town  rather  than  to 
give  it  up  in  disgust. 

Beginning-  to  Give  the  Town  Its  Due.  From  two 
sources  chiefly  the  recognition  of  the  little  town  in  a 
more  balanced  and  reasonable  version  of  the  country- 
betterment  program,  is  beginning  to  appear.  Of  the 
American  sections,  New  England  alone  in  her  local  gov- 
ernment has  always  linked  town-  or  village-centre  with 
the  open  country.  New  England  agriculture  primitively 
was  largely  carried  on  by  village  communities  rather 
than  in  isolation.  Her  average  population  is  dense  and 
her  farms  still  small.  New  England  institutions  there- 
fore have  already  transcended  the  gulf  between  town 
and  farm  land,  and  the  version  of  the  country  life  pro- 
gram proceeding  from  New  England  assumes  the  organ- 
ization of  social  life  around  centres  rather  than  the 
prevalence  of  rural  isolation.^ 

But  it  has  remained  for  the  Middle  "West,  especially 
in  the  rural  social  studies  of  the  University  of  Wiscon- 
sin, adequately  to  discover  the  place  of  the  little  town 
as  a  factor  in  American  life,  and  to  propose  its  econo- 
mic and  moral  relations  to  the  surrounding  country  as 
the  fundamental  basis  of  social  reconstruction  for  the 
greater  half  of  our  nation.  The  indebtedness  of  this 
book  to  these  studies  will  amply  appear  in  later  chapters. 

The  Town's  Distinctive  Place  and  Outlook.  This 
book  proposes,  however,  a  still  more  radical  advocacy  of 

3  See  Hartman,  Village  Problems  and  Characteristics,  in  Annals 
of  the  Am.  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  XV,  p.  234  f. 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  9 

the  right  of  the  little  town  to  be  viewed  independently. 
As  in  any  special  study,  it  will  be  necessary  to  abstract 
the  subject  of  investigation  from  its  setting  in  the  larger 
social  life  of  the  nation,  and  to  hold  it  up  for  minute 
examination  as  though  it  were  a  thing  apart.  Then  it 
must  be  put  back  into  its  vital  relations — where  it  be- 
longs. What  is  gained  will  be  an  ineffaceable  sense  of 
its  unique  characteristics.  Thus  with  the  little  town : 
there  is  something  lacking  in  the  country  life  message 
which  will  be  remedied  only  by  recognizing  towns  a.s 
natural  rural  centres.  But  the  town  is  more  than 
centre.  It  has  a  life  of  its  own.  In  a  typical  Wisconsin 
community  where  a  town  and  its  surrounding  farming 
population  use  common  institutions,  the  town  furnishes 
just  half  the  population.  They  do  half  the  trading — 
which  means  approximately  half  the  eating,  working, 
playing,  sleeping.  The  conditions  of  their  living  and 
working  are  in  obvious  respects  quite  different  from 
those  of  the  farmer.  What  wonder  then,  in  spite  of 
their  close  ties  and  use  of  common  institutions,  if  they 
acquire  a  distinctive  group  consciousness,  a  town  point 
of  view.     Why  should  thoy  not? 

"Tertium  Quid."  Such  confessedly  is  the  viewpoint 
of  this  book.  In  the  interests  alike  of  social  accuracy 
and  a  social  welfare,  it  wants  to  break  with  the  unscien- 
tific pre-occupation  of  the  nation  with  the  distinctions 
"urban,"  and  "rural,"  and  to  shake  the  little  town  out 
of  the  apologetic  and  brow-beaten  attitude  in  which  it 
cowers  at  present.  It  proposes  especially  to  assert  the 
usefulness  and  dignity  of  the  little  town  as  standing 
between  and  sei'ving  both  extremes.     Its  urban  outlook 


10  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

is  as  legitimate  as  its  rural  outlook.  The  little  town  is 
neither  to  be  segregated  from  the  rural  population  nor 
with  it.  By  being  itself  first  of  all,  it  is  best  fitted  to 
become  conscious  of  and  to  share  the  life  of  the  nation 
and  the  world. 

The  Town's  Chief  Function.  The  more  radically  the 
little  town  adopts  the  independent  point  of  view  the 
more  adequately  may  it  return  later  to  a  comprehension 
of  its  chief  task ;  namely,  the  service  of  the  open  country 
on  which  it  depends.  After  all  this  is  its  largest  task. 
The  material  fortunes  of  the  little  town  and  open  coun- 
try are  identical ;  their  achievements  should  be  common. 
To  fulfil  its  reasonable  service  the  little  town  must  ap- 
preciate and  love  the  country.  On  the  whole  it  does 
not  do  so.  This  constitutes  its  chief  moral  problem. 
Socially  speaking,  it  is  the  problem  of  making  the  little 
town  the  centre  alike  of  inspiration  and  of  administra- 
tion in  the  reconstruction  of  rural  civilization. 

THE   FIELD   AND   ITS   LIMITS 

The  Minimum  of  Town  Character.  The  definition  of 
the  little  town  which  the  book  assumes  is  confessedly 
somewhat  arbitrary  and  a  reason  will  naturally  be  asked 
for  it.  It  concerns  incorporated  places  of  less  than  five 
thousand  people.  Many  incorporations  to  be  sure  have 
very  little  social  justification,  yet  somebody  must  have 
felt  that  their  group-interests  constituted  them  a  body 
of  people  different  from  their  neighbours  of  the  open 
country.  They  therefore  separated  themselves  into  a 
town.  The  act  of  incorporation  itself  is  evidence  of  a 
certain  minimum  of  town  character.  This  gives  the 
downward  limit. 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  11 

The  Upward  Limit.  Five  thousand  population  is 
taken  as  the  upward  limit  because  a  good  many  American 
towTis  have  approximated  that  size  as  supported  exclu- 
sively by  agriculture.  In  regions  of  average  fertility 
and  density  of  population  a  little  town  may  easily  grow 
to  this  extent  simply  as  a  rural  centre ;  few  grow  beyond 
it,  however,  without  the  help  of  industry.  Furthermore, 
five  thousand  town  people  will  still  keep  within  walking 
distance  of  a  single  common  centre  which  constitutes 
the  business  and  institutional  focus  of  their  lives. 
Beyond  that  number,  population  tends  to  seek  out- 
lying sub-centres  and  to  want  a  street  car  service. 
These  are  the  beginnings  at  least  of  urban  tendencies. 
Five  thousand  population  is  thus  a  natural  upward 
limit. 

Elasticity  of  the  Field.  The  essential  import  of  the 
book,  however,  permits  quite  elastic  limits  in  its  field 
of  discussion.  If  its  scope  were  enlarged  so  as  to  in- 
clude towns  of  eight  thousand  population  with  their 
two  and  three-quarter  million  additional  people,  most 
of  the  discussion  still  applies  perfectly.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  upward  limit  is  reduced  from  five  thou- 
sand to  twenty-five  hundred  population,  nine-tenths  of 
the  little  towns  of  the  nation  are  still  included,  with 
two-thirds  of  the  population  whose  distinctive  life  is 
being  studied.  The  field  is  therefore  not  dependent 
upon  any  particular  arbitrary  definition,  but  covers  the 
broad  median  aspect  of  American  life.  The  little  town 
is  distinguished  not  so  much  by  the  number  of  its  popu- 
lation as  by  an  attitude  toward  immediate  environment 
and  life  in  general  which  maj^  be  called  the  townsman's 
consciousness. 


12  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

THE  townsman's   CONSCIOUSNESS 

A  Stubborn  Human  Factor.  Two  young  women  of  a 
small  county  seat  in  the  Middle  West  recently  made 
their  first  visit  to  New  York  City.  They  recalled  that 
twenty  years  ago,  as  children  living  in  a  railroad  vil- 
lage of  three  hundred  people,  they  visited  a  "city" 
of  eight  thousand  and  were  introduced  as  coming  from 
the  "country."  They  felt  wronged  and  humiliated 
then.  They  still  feel  that  their  feeling  was  right.  In 
their  hearts  they  believe  that  their  home  experience 
belongs  rather  with  New  York  City  than  with  the  open 
country.  This  is  the  stubborn  human  factor  lying  at 
the  root  of  every  practical  program  for  the  little  town. 
However  unreasonable  or  even  comical,  it  is  to  be  reck- 
oned with;  for  this  reason  it  is  worth  examining  in  all 
its  baldness. 

Conscious  Urban  AfRliations.  The  citizen  of  Little- 
ton is  sure  that  he  is  different  from  and  superior  to 
the  country -man:  he  feels  that  he  is  like,  though  in- 
ferior to,  the  city  man;  that  he  belongs  to  the  urban 
rather  than  to  the  rural  order  of  life.  Challenged  to 
defend  his  position,  the  townsman  would  think  first 
of  the  palpable  advantages  of  his  lot.  He  walks  on  a 
sidewalk;  he  works  less  hard  than  the  farmer;  his  day 
begins  two  hours  later  and  he  sits  up  two  hours  longer; 
he  wears  "good"  clothes  more  of  the  time;  he  has  better 
and  nearer  schools  and  churches. 

Fundamental  Urban  Superiorities:  1.  Specializa- 
tion. Driven  to  deeper  analysis  he  commonly  ends  by 
asserting  three  final  superiorities,  each  deep  rooted  in 
human  nature. 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  13 

First,  the  advautai^'o  of  the  town  over  the  country  in 
social  specialization  and  in  the  consequent  honour  of 
belonging  with  the  few  as  contrasted  witii  the  many. 
The  people  of  the  open  country  have  but  one  voca- 
tion, that  of  farming ;  the  people  of  the  town  are  divided 
between  many  vocations.  Between  themselves  the  farm- 
ers are  equal  and  their  work  is  similar.  Except  for  the 
exchange  of  like  services  no  man  depends  upon  another 
in  economic  relations.  To  the  townsman,  however, 
whether  the  merchant,  the  skilled  mechanic,  or  the  pro- 
fessional man,  the  whole  group  of  farmers  comes  to 
ask  services  different  from  those  which  any  of  their 
own  number  can  render.  Severally  they  may  be  far 
richer  than  the  average  townsman,  but  their  mental  at- 
titude is  that  of  inferiority.  Their  total  group  may 
be  of  more  importance  than  his ;  but  there  are  only  half 
a  dozen  preachers  or  lawyers  and  only  thirty  or  forty 
school  teachers  or  merchants  to  every  hundred  farmers. 
In  this  abiding  ratio  lies  the  distinction  of  specialized 
service. 

2.  Sophistication.  From  the  earliest  dawn  of  social 
life  it  has  been  felt  that  the  clash  of  wits,  especially  in 
the  market  place,  sharpens  them.  The  mind  stagnates 
in  isolation,  is  speeded  up  in  association.  The  man 
whose  business  is  trade  has  always  felt  keenly  his  sophis- 
tication and  acumen  in  contrast  with  the  slower  move- 
ment of  the  rustic  mind.  The  typical  townsman  still 
implicitly  claims  this  advantage  over  the  farmer. 

3.  Prerogative.  The  townisman  feels  his  superiority 
as  the  keeper  of  the  ideals  of  the  community  and  of 
their  peculiar  symbols.  He  has — to  paraphrase  Prof. 
Galpin — not  only  its  pantry  and  shop  but  also  its  safe, 


14  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

its  medicine  chest,  its  playhouse  and  its  altar.  All 
keepers  of  ideals  tend  to  hierarchical  pride  and  a  sense 
of  class  prerogative.  It  is  hard  to  hold  them  to  the 
humility  of  service. 

Facing-  Away  from  the  Country.  The  townsman  uni- 
versally asserts  these  superiorities  as  against  the  coun- 
try population.  The  rural  child  attending  the  town 
school  and  the  retired  farmer  moving  to  town  to  end 
his  days,  are  made  keenly  aware  of  them.  Their  total 
result  is  that  the  little  towns  as  a  group  tend  to  face 
away  from  the  country  in  ambition  and  sympathy,  and 
to  envy  and  ape  the  city.  They  recognize  the  city  as 
still  more  specialized  in  its  occupations,  more  wise  and 
witty,  and  more  the  shrine  of  ideals  than  they  are.  It 
is  easy  to  show  that  this  mental  attitude  is  in  utter  con- 
tradiction to  the  main  tendency  of  their  economic  re- 
lationships. All  the  main  issues  of  their  lives  are  bound 
up  with  those  of  the  open  country;  and  this  the  main 
stream  of  their  thought  and  feeling  ignores.  For  this 
they  are  universally  scorned  and  scolded.  It  is  agreed 
by  nearly  all  serious  thinkers  that  in  the  type  of  its 
schooling,  in  its  church  and  religious  life  and  in  its 
social  customs  and  motives  the  little  town  needs  revolu- 
tionary redirection,  that  it  needs  to  become  rurally- 
minded.  But  neither  scorning  nor  scolding  really  helps 
matters.  The  first  step  in  redeeming  the  little  town  is 
to  understand  it;  after  that  it  may  be  converted.  The 
roots  of  its  self -consciousness  must  be  utilized  as  well  as 
modified. 

INCORPORATION 

Significance  and  Methods.  Incorporation  is  the  legal 
and  formal  act  by  which  the  little  town  declares  its 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  15 

physical  and  mental  severance  from  the  open  country, 
and  registers  its  sense  of  independent  group-needs  and 
values.*  In  most  states  this  takes  place  under  general 
legislation,  after  a  petition  of  the  inhabitants  or  a  pop- 
ular vote  upon  the  proposed  incorporation.  Popular 
vote,  however,  is  not  always  necessary,  the  initiative  in 
some  states  proceeding  from  the  county  authorities,  who 
may  set  off  towns  at  their  discretion.  The  law  fre- 
quently requires  a  minimum  number  of  inhabitants ;  but 
there  is  no  uniformity  on  this  point  nor  as  to  nomencla- 
ture. There  are  scores  of  full-fledged  municipalities  of 
less  than  one  hundred  population,  and  "city,"  in  Amer- 
ica, may  mean  anything  from  a  few  hundred  popula- 
tion upward. 

Powers  of  Incorporated  Towns.  In  the  theory  of 
American  government — handed  down  in  this  respect 
from  mediaeval  England — the  powers  of  the  little  town 
are  delegated  to  it  by  the  state.  The  state  ought,  and  in 
general  does  permit  the  people  of  an  incorporated  place 
to  do  the  things  which  are  collectively  necessary  for 
their  closely  knit  community  life.  Those  include  ade- 
quate powers  to  provide  fire  and  police  protection, 
streets  and  sidewalks  and  means  of  their  lighting  at 
night,  sewers  and  waterworks,  and  the  like.  One  of  the 
oldest  rights  of  village  and  town  is  to  make  market  regu- 
lations. This  was  of  central  importance  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  even  its  emasculated  modern  residuum  is  still 
very  close  to  the  heart  of  every  town  officer  who  is  also 
in  trade,  since  it  enables  him  to  take  legal  toll  of  the 
farmer.  Limited  powers  of  taxation  are  necessary  to 
carry  out  the  functions  catalogued  above,  including  those 

4  Fairlie,  "Local  Government,  p.  200  f. 


16  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

of   issuing  bonds   and   of  levying   special   assessments 
against  property  for  public  improvements. 

DISASTROUS   CLEAVAGE  BETWEEN   TOWN  AND   COUNTRY 

Impressed  with  a  consciousness  of  their  group  superi- 
ority over  the  open  country,  strongly  convinced  of  the 
Tightness  of  their  own  viewpoint  and  armed  with  such 
legal  powers,  these  thousands  of  groups  of  Americans 
have  set  up  their  municipal  housekeeping  in  a  certain 
mood  of  division  from,  if  not  of  opposition  to,  the  farm 
population,  the  inner  motive  and  complexity  of  which 
Prof.  Galpin  has  analysed:  ''The  banker,  store  keeper 
and  blacksmith  knows  (the  farmer)  as  the  goose  that 
lays  the  golden  egg.  The  problem  is  one  of  pleasing 
(him)  and  getting  his  trade  without  building  him  and 
his  mind,  capacities,  and  wishes,  into  the  community 
fabric.  The  farmer's  money  is  good  and  necessary  and 
must  be  obtained  and  his  goodwill  retained ;  but  how  to 
accomplish  this  object  is  a  problem.  Thorough-going 
incorporation  of  the  farmer  into  the  stream  of  village 
activities  is  frustrated  by  the  fundamental  conception 
of  the  self-sufficiency  of  the  village.  The  farmer  is  pre- 
sented outright  with  a  few  donations,  as  privileges  in 
order  to  bind  him.  Toll,  of  course,  is  to  be  exacted  by 
villagers  somewhere.  Graft  sometimes  takes  the  place  of 
open  dealing.  The  farmer  does  not  share  in  the  control 
and  responsibility  of  certain  things  which  he  occasionally 
enjoys  at  the  village  as  a  spectator.  The  outlying  farm 
population  is  seldom  massed.  Its  members  come  to 
town  by  team  or  automobile  or  on  foot  or  horseback,  do 
their  business  without  a  resting  place  of  their  own,  stand 
on  other  people's  streets,  in  other  people's  shops,  and 


X 

-    CI 
w  o 


x    3 

s  o 


~  o 


f.  _  -a 

■^  —  -^ 

c  —  >^ 

"  2  *" 

OS  c  p 


•n 


e  * 


-^.2 

C   S 
cj  •-• 

en  "^ 
-^    C 


o 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  17 

over  other  people's  counters.  They  go  back  after  some 
hours  of  absence  to  their  own  lands,  occupations,  and 
homes.  In  the  village  they  are  alictis,  but  aliens  with  a 
possible  title  to  be  conciliated.  The  embarrassment  is 
on  both  sides.  The  farmer  pays  in  so  much  in  trade 
he  feels  that  he  ought  to  have  consideration ;  he  pays  so 
little  directly  toward  the  institutions  that  the  village 
considers  that  his  rights  are  not  compelling.  Puzzle, 
perplexity,  and  embarrassment,  obscure  the  whole  rela- 
tionship and  situation  ;  and  the  universal  process  of  legal- 
ized insulation  of  village  and  city  away  from  the  farm, 
which  has  grown  up  undisputed,  with  scarcely  a  hint  of 
abnormality,  is  constantly  shadowed  by  this  overhanging 
cloud  of  doubt. '"^  The  final  result  of  it  all  is  one  of 
the  most  conspicuous  moral  cleavages  within  the  nation. 
Though  far  less  recognized,  it  is  as  wide  and  deep  as  any 
class  distinction,  and  is  more  extensive  and  massive  than 
any  race  division.     It  is  one  of  the  major  social  facts. 

THE   ACTU.'\L   LITTLE   TOWN 

When  such  people  as  we  have  described  get  together 
in  human  groups  of  from  one  or  two  hundred  to  five 
thousand  in  number  under  conditions  of  close  neighbour- 
hood, just  what  happens  ?  In  terms  of  concrete  descrip- 
tion what  exactly  is  the  little  town,  first  to  the  casual 
eye,  then  to  the  curious  and  finally  to  interpreting  mind  ? 

Glimpsed  in  passing,  the  composite  picture  of  the  type 
cannot  honestly  be  said  to  be  pleasing.  The  setting  of 
landscape  and  country-side  activities  differs  with  the 
physical  features  of  the  continent  from  east  to  west,  and 
with  latitude,  from  zone  to  zone ;  but  it  is  rarely  without 

6  University  of  Wisconsin  Research  Bulletin  No.  34,  p.  25  f . 


18  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

charm.  The  to^ni  is  the  ugly  accent  in  an  endless  pano- 
rama of  interest  and  beauty. 

In  the  Middle-West.  Here  its  fields  smile  around  it, 
but  frequently  the  chief  beauty  spot  is  just  outside  its 
borders  where  the  grave  stones  gleam  under  the  green 
trees.  The  cemetery  is  almost  always  shaded  and  is 
usually  better  kept  than  the  town.  At  the  outskirts 
where  the  cultivated  fields  stop,  come  the  pastures  where 
the  town's  cows  graze.  Then  begins  the  sight  of  un- 
kempt premises,  of  barns,  poultry  yards,  manure  heaps, 
wood  piles,  and  nondescript  out-buildings  which  out- 
number the  dwellings.  A  careful  score  kept  day  after 
day  over  hundreds  of  miles  in  the  agricultural  South  and 
Central  West,  convinces  the  author  that  there  are  seven 
outbuildings  to  one  dwelling,  each  if  possible  more  ugly 
and  incongruous  than  the  other.  It  is  extremely  rare  to 
find  home  grounds  in  which  the  group  of  buildings  is  defi- 
nitely planned.  (The  farther  West  has  not  yet  had  time 
to  build  so  many  out-buildings,  and  the  South  will  leave 
things  out  in  the  open.)  Towering  over  the  town  is  the 
municipal  water  tank  or  stand  pipe, — the  most  conspicu- 
ous object  to  the  eye.  At  little  extra  cost  each  one  of 
them  might  have  been  turned  into  a  civic  campanile. 
Visiting  a  great  state  institution,  an  architect  was  asked 
to  designate  the  best  designed  structure.  Unhesitatingly 
he  replied,  "The  water  tower."  But  the  little  town 
erects  its  water  tower  only  as  an  expression  of  utili- 
tarian ugliness  or  lack  of  charm. 

Crumbs  of  Comfort.  Frequently  the  most  pleasing 
note  is  the  drab  and  standardized  orderliness  of  the 
railroad  corporation,  lumber  yard  and  oil  station.     No 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  19 

beauty  is  attempted,  but  things  are  at  least  not  out  of 
order  as  they  are  everywhere  else  in  the  little  town.  To 
be  sure  there  is  Main  Street  with  its  pretentious  "  White 
Way"  wasting  electricity  from  expensive  cluster  lights. 
But  the  street  is  muddy  and  littered;  and  most  of  the 
town  has  few  street  lights  and  no  electricity  in  the 
houses.  Around  many  of  the  houses  stretch  small  lawns. 
A  minority  have  gardens,  or  at  least  a  few  flowers ;  but 
the  plantings  are  usually  haphazard,  and  with  no  intel- 
ligent disposition  of  trees  or  shrubs.  At  best  a  certain 
comfortable  primness  characterizes  the  average  individ- 
ual dwelling. 

Arrangement  and  Architecture.  The  public  build- 
ings consist  chiefly  of  small  wooden  churches  located  at 
random  throughout  the  village,  and  a  public  school 
building  or  two,  usually  dingy,  with  inadequate  grounds. 
If  the  little  town  chances  to  be  a  county-seat  there  is 
the  inevitable  court  house,  either  utterly  nondescript  in 
architecture,  or  new  and  pretentious.  The  location  of 
the  public  buildings  almost  never  shows  definite  plan  or 
produces  any  impression  of  civic  unity.  i\Iost  of  the 
small  towns  in  America  are  bisected  by  a  railroad  along 
which  much  of  the  ugliness  concentrates,  and  which  fre- 
quently divides  the  town  socially  as  well  as  geograph- 
ically. On  the  other  side  of  the  track  are  the  poorer 
homes,  the  muddier  and  weedier  streets,  and  the  fewer 
sidewalks.  On  the  farther  edge  possibly,  lie  the  town's 
one  and  two  industrial  plants — a  flour  mill  or  a  tile 
works, — also  the  inevitable  base  ball  field  with  its  rudi- 
mentary bleachers.  Hidden  among  the  trees  the  reced- 
ing little  town  becomes  attractive.     Its  outer  beauty  de- 


20  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

pends  upon  not  looking  too  closely  at  the  details.  There 
are  striking  exceptions,  but  such  is  the  best  which  can 
be  said  for  the  American  little  town  as  a  whole. 

An  Actual  Inventory.  An  informal  survey  of  a  typi- 
cal little  town  in  the  North-West  yields  results  like  the 
following :  There  are  about  one  hundred  dwelling 
houses  occupied  by  a  total  population  of  five  hundred 
people.  The  service  of  this  population  and  the  sur- 
rounding farms  involves  about  seventy-five  enterprises 
other  than  domestic,  expressed  in  institutions  or  busi- 
ness. Beside  the  school  and  three  churches  there  are 
seven  professional  men  maintaining  offices,  as  well  as  a 
barber  and  a  photographer  to  complete  the  roll  of  those 
who  live  by  rendering  personal  services.  Thirty  busi- 
nesses are  concerned  with  providing  food,  clothing  and 
shelter  to  the  people  of  the  community,  and  ten  to  trans- 
porting them  and  their  products  locally  or  to  other 
parts.  Seven  enterprises  deal  chiefly  with  the  physical 
needs  of  transients.  Beside  two  hotels  there  are  prob- 
ably a  superfluous  number  of  lunch  rooms  chiefly  catering 
to  the  farmer  who  comes  to  town  to  trade.  There  are 
five  enterprises  of  finance  and  credit,  including  three 
banks.  For  amusement  there  are  three  pool  halls,  be- 
side the  public  school  playground  with  a  minimum  of 
apparatus,  two  privately-owned  tennis  courts  and  the 
"  K.  P. "  hall  used  for  casual  entertainments.  For  com- 
munication and  information  this  little  town  has  its  post 
office,  a  small  newspaper  and  a  telephone  exchange. 
There  is  a  privately-owned  electric  light  plant;  while  a 
fire  department  house  is  the  only  visible  possession  of 
municipal  government.  There  are  several  miles  of  con- 
crete sidewalk,  for  this  is  a  young  and  enterprising  com- 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  21 

munity:  but  perhaps  half  of  the  houses  proclaim  their 
possession  of  individual  water  supply  by  the  presence 
of  wind  mills.  A  rough  estimate  gives  perhaps  twenty- 
five  mechanics  about  evenly  divided  between  the  building 
industries  and  the  operation  and  repair  of  machinery. 

Incomplete  Civic  Centres.  This  collection  of  homes, 
streets,  institutions,  businesses  and  other  activities  con- 
stitutes the  outward  aspect  of  the  little  town  of  five  hun- 
dred to  a  thousand  people.  There  is  a  group  of  still 
smaller  little  towns — comprising  perhaps  one  half  of  the 
total  number, — each  having  a  population  of  less  than  five 
hundred;  with  an  uncounted  number  of  similar  unin- 
corporated villages.  These  are  best  described  as  incom- 
plete civic  centres.  Typically  they  have  church  and 
graded  school,  a  number  of  stores  and  facilities  of  ship- 
ping for  the  products  of  the  region ;  but  they  are  without 
high  school  or  newspaper,  and  the  immediately  sur- 
rounding country  population  does  most  of  its  trading 
and  much  of  its  selling  of  products  at  the  larger  centres. 
The  social  problems  of  these  communities  are  less  com- 
plicated. They  have  more  of  the  neighbourhood  spirit 
and  find  it  easier  to  blend  village  and  country  people  in 
common  projects  than  is  the  case  with  the  larger  com- 
munities. Their  mental  break  with  rural  interests  is 
perhaps  less  pronounced,  but  so  far  as  present  is  even 
less  excusable. 

Beneath  the  Surface.  The  systematic  study  of  any 
social  unit  is  technically  called  a  survey.  Such  a  study 
of  a  typical  town  in  a  prosperous  western  state  is  popu- 
larly proclaimed  as  a  "Social  Photograph  of  Belleville."  ° 

Belleville  had  an  estimated  population  of  2367  peo- 

6  Rural  Manhood,  VI,  p.  123  f.,  p.  168  f. 


22  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

pie  in  1913.  Considerably  over  one-fourth  of  them 
have  lived  there  over  twenty  years.  They  are  the  old 
timers,  the  settled  and  established  portion  of  the  com- 
munity. Somewhat  less  than  one-fourth  have  been  resi- 
dent less  than  two  and  one-half  years.  One  may  guess 
that  the  old  ways  mean  less  to  many  of  them  and  that 
their  minds  are  more  hospitable  to  change.  About  one- 
tenth  of  the  population  is  of  foreign  birth. 

Occupation.  One-third  of  the  families  live  by  busi- 
ness and  the  few  professions  represented  in  the  little 
town ;  another  third  consists  of  retired  farmers  and  their 
families;  and  finally  a  third  are  employes  of  the  rail- 
road, this  being  a  division  point  with  yards  and  repair 
shops.  The  presence  of  this  third  element  in  such  large 
proportion  makes  the  town  unlike  the  majority  of  its 
class  which  are  limited  to  the  business  and  farming  ele- 
ments. Fourteen  per  cent,  of  the  women  of  Belleville 
of  twenty  years  of  age  and  upward  are  gainfully  em- 
ployed. 

Income.  The  weekly  incomes  of  270  families  re- 
ported upon  are  distributed  as  follows: 

Less  than 


$10.00     per 

week, 

29%\ 

below  standard  of  corn- 

$10.-12     " 

(C 

16%)               fort,  45% 

$13.-17     " 

a 

91/2%. 

$18.-22     " 

iC 

121/2% 
11% 

$23.-27     " 

ic 

above  standard  of  com- 

$28.-40    " 

iC 

12% 

fort,  55% 

$40.00       " 

a 

10% 

More  than 

The  investigators  find  that  an  income  of  $650  to  $700 
per  year  is  necessary  to  keep  a  Belleville  family  of  five 
in  comfort.  This  means  an  income  of  at  least  $13.00  per 
week,  and  forty-four  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  have  less  than   this.     Seventy  per   cent,   of  the 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  23 

single  men  over  twenty  years  of  age  get  less  than  $12.00 
per  week.  In  other  words,  a  highly  uncomfortable  pro- 
portion of  the  people  are  in  actual  poverty  and  this  in 
the  midst  of  a  splendidly  developed  county  virtually 
every  inch  of  which  is  cultivated,  whose  farm  lands  are 
worth  nearly  twice  as  much  per  acre  as  the  average  of 
the  state  and  nation,  and  the  value  of  whose  crops  alone 
would  produce  an  income  of  $200  per  year  for  every 
inhabitant.  One  may  speculate  as  to  the  probable  size  of 
little-town  incomes  in  poorer  farming  regions. 

Consumption.  How  the  people  in  the  little  town 
spend  their  money  was  studied  by  grouping  the  fam- 
ilies into  those  receiving  an  average  of  $500,  of  $800 
and  of  $1500  per  year  respectively.  The  results  secured 
were  those  familiar  to  the  student  of  family  budgets. 
There  can  be  less  difference  in  the  cost  of  food  between 
the  poorer  and  the  richer,  since  all  must  have  at  least 
enough  nourishment  to  live;  but  there  is  marked  differ- 
ence in  the  cost  of  housing  and  expenditures  for  heating, 
lighting  and  the  comforts  of  the  home;  while  with  the 
poorest,  money  for  education,  for  health,  insurance, 
travel,  recreation  and  benevolence,  dwindles  almost  to 
the  vanishing  point. 

Education.  In  spite  of  the  difference  of  family  in- 
come, all  children  go  to  school.  Not  only  is  this  taken 
for  granted,  but  the  age  at  which  the  majority  drop  out 
to  begin  work  is  two  to  three  years  later  than  in  the 
great  cities,  and  fully  half  of  the  graduates  of  the  high 
school  go  on  to  college. 

Churches.  "With  a  population  of  twenty-three  hun- 
dred people  Belleville  furnishes  church  sitting  for  four- 
teen hundred,  has  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  church 


24  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

members  and  an  average  attendance  at  morning  service 
of  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven.  In  this  matter,  a 
western  sociologist  has  formulated  an  approximate 
"law"  as  follows:  That  in  the  average  town  there  in- 
clines to  be  half  as  many  church  sittings  as  the  popula- 
tion and  about  half  as  many  people  in  average  attend- 
ance as  there  are  sittings.  Belleville  roughly  substan- 
tiates this  generalization. 

Charity.  Twenty  families  were  found  to  have  been 
aided  by  public  funds  during  the  year,  and  twenty-five 
by  private  charity — chiefly  that  of  the  churches.  Among 
these  twenty-five  cases  of  aid  there  were  fifteen  dupli- 
cators, showing  that  the  town's  right  hand  did  not  know 
what  the  left  hand  was  doing  and  that  charity  in  general 
was  on  a  thoroughly  unsystematic  basis. 

Play  and  Social  Life.  The  study  of  recreation 
showed  nine  types  of  customary  gatherings  for  social 
amusement  and  edification;  with  annual  patronage  as 
follows : 

Moving  pictures. .  .105,000  Church  socials  and 

Church  services . .  .   93,600         picnics  8,696 

Pool    and    billiard  Lodges    8,692 

games    9,000  The    Chautauqua. .  5,600 

Agricultural     fairs  Baseball 2,870 

and  farmers  '  Public  dances 2,300 

meetings 12,400 

That  the  ''movies"  lead  numerically,  whereas  ten 
years  ago  they  were  not  existent,  is  of  course  evidence 
of  the  immense  revolution  which  they  have  wrought 
in  the  field  of  cheap  amusement.  Going  to  church  has 
a  slight  lead  over  pool  and  billiards  in  the  recreational 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN  25 

scale.  It  is  especially  interesting  that  the  Chautauqua 
is  just  twice  as  popular  as  base  ball,  which  raises  the 
question  of  what  really  is  the  great  American  game  in 
the  corn  belt.  In  spite  of  this  considerable  range  of 
recreational  opportunity,  the  investigators  find  a  real 
play  problem  especially  for  children.  Boys  and  girls 
"don't  know  what  to  do  with  themselves"  a  good  deal 
of  the  time,  especiallj''  on  Sundays.  They  are  kept  off 
the  public  school  playground  after  the  close  of  school 
for  lack  of  supervision.  This  situation  is  reported  as 
usual  tlirougliout  tlic  state. 

Health  and  Mortality.  In  the  meagre  character  of  its 
records  on  these  points,  Belleville  matches  the  large 
majority  of  smaller  American  communities.  The  most 
that  can  be  proved  is  that  its  death  rate  is  more  or  less 
than  that  of  the  state  in  a  given  year.  Unlike  most 
similarly  located  communities,  it  gets  its  water  from 
deep  wells,  and  the  cases  of  polluted  water  supply  dis- 
covered by  sanitary  inspectors  are  reported  as  ''few," 
— to  be  accurate,  nineteen  per  cent.  only.  A  physical 
examination  of  Belleville  school  children  disclosed  the 
amazing  array  of  defects  and  ailments  everywhere  dis- 
covered and  almost  everywhere  forgotten.  That  its  chil- 
dren are  above  average  in  size  gives  this  community  evi- 
dent pride. 

Such  is  Belleville ;  such  are  thousands  of  other  Ameri- 
can little  towns.  Around  this  average  they  vary  slightly 
to  the  one  side  or  the  other,  and  play  for  weal  or  woe 
their  twelve  thousand  parts  in  American  life. 


n 

THE  TOWN'S  RELATIONSHIPS  AND 
PROSPECTS 

THE  DISTRIBUTION    OP   LITTLE   TOWNS 

A  town  or  city  of  any  size  or  degree  is  the  place  where 
the  plasm  of  social  life  thickens  like  the  yolk  of  the  egg. 
It  is  a  natural  centre  of  civilization  with  respect  to  the 
less  definitely  organized  surrounding  country.  In  this 
character  one  of  the  most  pertinent  questions  which  can 
be  asked  about  it  is,  "How  far  is  it  to  the  next  town?" 
which  means,  ' '  How  large  is  the  area  over  which  the  par- 
ticular town  has  primary  influence,  and  how  many  ac- 
cessible rivals  has  it?"  What  also  is  the  actual  degree 
of  their  frequency  in  any  given  area,  and  does  it  follow 
any  law? 

Distribution  of  Larger  Centres.  On  this  point  a  most 
interesting  method  of  taking  a  cross-section  of  American 
life  is  to  ride  across  the  continent  on  slow  trains  say 
from  Boston  to  Seattle,  and  back  from  Los  Angeles  to 
Washington  by  a  southern  route,  measuring  the  varying 
frequency  of  towns  from  section  to  section.  The  Census 
has  already  recorded  the  facts  for  the  larger  centres. 
From  Boston  to  Albany,  for  example,  there  is  a  town  or 
city  of  more  than  twenty-five  hundred  population  every 
fourteen  miles ;  thence  to  Buffalo  one  every  fifteen  miles. 
From  Buffalo  to  the  Mississippi  River  they  were  twenty- 
three  miles  apart;  and  beyond  the  Mississippi  to  the 

26 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS    27 

mountains  about  twice  as  far.  One  travels  over  one 
hundred  miles  in  the  mountain  states  before  he  reaches 
such  a  town,  and  it  is  another  hundred  miles  to  the  next. 
Up  and  down  the  Pacific  Coast  they  are  fifty-seven  miles 
apart,  and  perhaps  two  or  three  hundred  miles  apart  in 
the  Southwestern  district.  From  Texas  east,  they  gain 
again  in  frequency  to  one  in  fifty-one  miles,  and  to  one 
in  forty  or  so  across  the  older  South. 

Varies  as  Density  of  Population.  This  is  just  what 
one  would  expect.  The  distribution  of  larger  towns 
varies  as  density  of  population.  When  places  large 
enough  to  be  of  more  than  local  significance  are  consid- 
ered, a  good  many  people  will  be  found  to  have  a  good 
many  towns;  a  few  people  in  an  equal  area  will  have  a 
few  such  towns,  each  with  a  wide  field  of  service.  They 
will  not  occur  in  exact  proportion  to  population,  since 
even  the  scantiest  population  must  have  some  major 
centres  and  the  thickest  could  not  have  proportionately 
as  many  more  without  their  treading  one  upon  another. 
After  there  get  to  be,  say,  one  hundred  people  to  the 
square  mile,  towns  will  grow  not  more  numerous  but 
simply  larger.  They  are  already  so  close  together  that 
more  people  do  not  mean  the  multiplication  of  new  places, 
but  only  the  growth  of  old  ones.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
regions  of  three  or  five  people  to  the  square  mile,  if  towns 
were  proportionately  as  few  as  the  population  is  sparse 
they  would  be  virtually  of  no  use  at  all.  Civilization 
demands  a  certain  number  of  urban  distributing  points, 
both  of  goods  and  of  culture.  Not  precisely  then,  yet 
on  the  whole  with  striking  fidelity,  the  occurrence  of 
larger  towns  corresponds  to  density  of  population. 

Why  is  the  Little  Town?     The  gaps  between  larger 


28  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

centres  vary  as  has  been  shown,  from  fifteen  to  one  hun- 
dred, and  even  two  or  three  hundred  miles  in  distance. 
They  are  occupied  by  a  filling  of  still  smaller  towns  and 
open  country ;  that  is  by  alternating  thickenings  up  and 
thinnings  out  of  social  relationships.  But  these  group- 
ings of  population  bear  almost  no  relation  to  density. 
Such  a  concrete  experiment  as  counting  the  miles  or 
timing  the  stops  of  the  local  trains  between  stations  in 
various  sections  of  the  country  would  discover  unex- 
pected variations.  Why  is  the  little  town  plentiful  here 
and  rare  there?  There  seem  to  be  three  major  reasons 
to  account  for  it ;  agricultural  prosperity,  physiography, 
and  habit. 

1.  The  Little  Town  a  Rural  Luxury.  In  general 
the  answer  is  simple:  the  distribution  of  little  towns 
varies  as  agricultural  prosperity.  Where  the  price  of 
land  is  highest  and  there  is  the  largest  proportion  of 
improved  land,  where  the  value  of  farm  product  per 
acre  and  of  farm  improvement  is  greatest,  there  the 
little  towns  are  thickest.  Where  the  reverse  is  true  they 
are  fewest.  The  frequent  little  town  thus  appears  as  a 
sort  of  luxury  of  prosperous  country  people,  whereas 
the  larger  ones  come  more  nearly  being  the  necessity  of 
equally  dense  populations  whatever  their  degree  of  pros- 
perity is.  Frequent  little  towns  are  the  rich  farmer's 
convenience ;  or  to  turn  it  around,  rich  farmers  are  the 
field  of  exploitation  for  many  little  towns.  All  coun- 
trymen support  about  as  many  little  towns  as  they  can. 
They  must  be  very  poor  indeed  to  go  without.  This  is 
the  largest  single  factor  in  determining  the  town's  fre- 
quency. 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS  29 

Sectional  Variations  in  Frequency.  The  illustration 
of  this  prini'iple  from  .section  to  section  is  extremely 
impressive.  In  the  South,  Georgia  excepted,  it  takes 
farm  populations  of  from  four  thousand  to  eight  thou- 
sand to  support  one  little  town,  while  in  the  Northern 
states,  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  and  INIissouri  rivers, 
there  is  a  little  town  for  every  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
or  twenty-five  hundred  country  people.  States  with  ap- 
proximately equal  rural  populations  show  the  following 
glaring  contrasts  in  number  of  little  towns : 

Illinois 993     Mississippi    325 

Iowa    811    Louisiana 161 

Rural  prosperity  is  the  most  outstanding  ground  of  these 
differences. 

2.  Physiography.  Minor  factors,  however,  enter 
into  the  distribution  of  little  towns.  Physiography'  is  one 
of  them.  It  accounts  for  the  most  striking  sectional  dif- 
ferences in  America  through  our  entire  history.  The 
prevalence  of  mountains  and  water  powers  urbanized 
New  England  from  early  times,  while  the  spreading 
coastal  plains  invited  the  South  to  extensive  agriculture, 
with  the  plantation  instead  of  the  town  unit  of  social 
organization.  Similar  contrasts  occur  in  immediately 
neighbouring  states  or  within  the  bounds  of  single  states. 
North  Carolina,  for  example,  with  less  than  one-third 
more  of  rural  population,  has  nearly  twice  as  many  little 
towns  as  South  Carolina.  Its  greater  Piedmont  and 
mountain  area  early  turned  the  population  of  the  one 
state  to  small  farming  and  domestic  manufacture,  in- 


30  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

volving"  compact  settlements ;  while  nearly  the  entire  area 
of  the  other  was  soil  congenial  to  the  plantation  system. 
The  combination  of  mountains  and  little  rainfall,  as  in 
the  West,  intensifies  the  need  of  towns.  Agriculture  is 
confined  to  limited  areas  under  such  conditions  and  is 
dependent  upon  irrigation.  Irrigation  typically  divides 
the  cultivated  land  into  small  holdings  and  permits  town 
and  farm  life  to  become  almost  synonymous.  The  Ameri- 
can example  of  largest  scale  is,  of  course,  Utah,  which 
under  the  combined  impulse  of  physiography  and  a  com- 
mon religion  has  developed  into  the  most  characteris- 
tically "rurban"  state  of  the  Union.  "The  plan  of 
settlement  in  Utah  brought  the  people  together  in  com- 
pact communities.  Agriculture  was  virtually  the  only 
industry  which  the  settlers  could  follow.  As  irrigation 
was  indispensable  to  agriculture,  each  family  could  care 
for  only  a  small  tract  of  land.  Securing  streams  of 
water  for  this  tract  of  land  was  often  a  matter  of  co- 
operative enterprise — the  work  not  for  one  family  but  for 
many  who  could  share  the  streams  of  water  led  from  the 
rivers  and  creeks  by  co-operative  enterprise.  This  need 
of  co-operative  effort  applied  to  practically  all  the  under- 
takings of  pioneer  life — road  making,  church  and  school- 
house  building,  home  building,  mercantile  industry. 
Life  in  town  groups  made  this  needful  co-operative 
effort  the  more  easy  and  natural  and  was  determined 
by  this  needful  co-operation.  Life  in  town,  moreover, 
secured  mutual  protection  from  the  Indians.  More  im- 
portant still  it  made  possible  of  realization  the  general 
desire  of  the  people  to  come  together  often  in  social  and 
religious  gatherings.  For  this  privilege  they  were  in 
large  part  settlers  in  this  new  land. 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS  31 

In  these  compact  communities  social  conditions  in  a 
number  of  essential  respects  differed  from  social  condi- 
tions commonly  found  elsewhere.  Outside  of  what  soon 
became  the  largest  centres  there  developed  a  population 
neither  rural  nor  urban,  yet  somewhat  like  both.  The 
people  were  of  one  religious  faith.  Their  hopes  and  de- 
sires, their  aims  and  purposes  were  alike. ' '  ^ 

The  ''rurban"  characteristics  of  irrigated  regions  have 
been  quickly  adopted  by  "boomers"  as  bait  to  attract 
settlers,  as  witness  the  following  advertisement:  "This 
is  no  backwoods  country.  No  primitive  pioneering  is 
necessary.  Tlie  same  advantages  found  in  the  more 
thickly  populated  sections  are  at  the  command  of  the 
settler." 

3.  Habit.  Another  factor  influencing  the  frequency 
of  towns  is  habit.  In  the  settlement  of  the  newer  West, 
populations  emigrating  from  sections  which  had  few 
towns  did  not  establish  as  many  as  those  which  had  al- 
ways been  accustomed  to  towais  and  took  them  for 
granted.  Thus,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  with  ^lissouri  and 
Kansas,  are  strikingly  below  their  neighbouring  states 
to  the  west  and  north,  in  the  number  of  their  little  towns 
for  each  thousand  rural  population,  while  they  much 
more  nearly  equal  them  in  rural  prosperity.  The  former 
states  were  settled  more  largely  by  immigrants  from  the 
rural  South ;  the  latter  by  those  from  New  England.^ 
Nebraska  and  the  Dakotas  have  nearly  as  many  little 
toAvns  relative  to  population  as  have  Illinois  and  Iowa, 
though  they  cannot  nearly  so  well  afford  them.  Their 
people  carried  the  town  habit  as  they  moved  West.     In 

1  Alatheson,  Utak  Educational  Revietc,  VIII,  p.  6. 

2  Turner,  "Rise  of  the  New  West,"  p.  76  f. 


32  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

proportion  to  his  wealth  the  farmer  of  these  states  is 
carrying  more  little  towns  on  his  back  than  any  other 
human  being  ever  did.  The  explanation  of  their  fre- 
quency is  psychological  rather  than  economic. 

CONDITIONS   OP    MULTIPLICATION 

The  forces  which  in  the  past  have  determined  the  dis- 
tribution of  little  towns  are  not  exactly  those  which  de- 
termine their  present  rate  of  increase  in  the  various  sec- 
tions. There  seem  to  be  four  situations  in  which  new 
towns  now  tend  to  spring  up. 

1.  With  General  Increase  of  Population.  Except  Ok- 
lahoma, the  states  which  gained  more  than  fifty  per  cent, 
in  population  between  1900  and  1910  were  all  in  the 
Kocky  Mountain  and  Pacific  Coast  sections.  Their  gain 
in  the  growth  of  little  towns  is  the  largest  of  the  nation, 
averaging  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  per  cent. 

2.  In  the  Neighbourhood  of  Great  Urban  Growth. 
While  in  the  East  generally  there  are  few  new  towns 
being  established,  their  rate  of  increase  in  New  Jersey, 
for  example,  has  equalled  that  of  the  average  Middle 
Western  state,  but  is  entirely  in  suburban  districts  con- 
tiguous to  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

3.  In  the  Wake  of  Progress.  New  towns,  though  in- 
creasing less  rapidly,  are  still  notably  frequent  where, 
with  only  moderate  general  growth  in  population,  there 
is  an  awakening  of  intelligence  and  a  marked  growth  in 
wealth.  This  largely  explains  the  little-town  growth  of 
the  South,  where  small  places  have  been  incorporated  by 
the  hundred  in  the  last  twenty  years. 

4.  Where  Prosperity  Outruns  Population.  In  spite 
of  the  stationary  character — and  even  the  decrease  of  its 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS  33 

rural  population — the  Mkklle-Wcst  has  luulliplicd  little 
towns  by  twenty-five  per  cent,  in  the  last  ten  years.  The 
loss  of  people  is  overborne  by  the  increase  of  wealth. 
The  first  escape  of  rural  prosperity  is  into  little-town 
forms.  This  explains  the  marked  addition  of  their  num- 
bers. 

The  East  an  Exception.  The  multiplication  of  little 
towns  is  going  on  with  notable  uniformity  throughout 
most  of  the  states.  The  East,  however,  has  largely  com- 
pleted its  town  building  process.  Except  in  the  immedi- 
ate vicinity  of  great  cities  there  are  already  about  all  the 
towns  there  are  going  to  be.  There  are  no  surprising 
changes  in  general  social  outlook  and  no  miraculous  rises 
in  land  values  to  accelerate  their  growth.  With  growth 
of  population,  they  seem  to  become  larger  rather  than 
more  numerous. 

INFLUENCES    DETERMINING    INCORPORATION 

A  still  different  set  of  factors  determines  incorpora- 
tion. It  is  one  thing  for  people  to  live  together  in  a 
thickly  settled  community  and  another  to  acquire  legal 
status  as  a  town.  With  large  town  communities,  of 
course  (except  in  New  England),  incorporation  may  be 
taken  for  granted ;  but  with  the  town  of  five  hundred 
people  or  less  (and  perhaps  one-half  of  the  entire  group 
of  twelve  thousand  belong  to  this  class),  the  likelihood 
of  incorporation  depends  very  much  upon  the  section  in 
which  it  is  located,  or  rather  upon  the  differences  in  local 
government  which  characterize  the  sections. 

1.  New  England.  Local  government  elsewhere  in 
America  was  devised  to  meet  the  cases  of  thinly  settled 
open  country.     Incorporation  reflects  the  inadequacy  of 


34  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

such  government  for  the  needs  of  town  centres.  There 
is  no  machinery  with  which  to  do  what  towns  feel  the 
need  of  doing  except  by  separate  incorporation.  With 
New  England  it  has  been  otherwise.  From  the  beginning 
she  yoked  governmentally  the  fortunes  of  village-centre 
and  out-lying  farm  land.  Local  government  took  good 
and  equal  care  of  the  need  of  both  aspects  of  the  com- 
munity. This  section  naturally,  therefore,  shows  least 
tendency  to  separate  incorporation.  Town  and  town- 
ship are  synonymous,  and  only  to  a  very  limited  extent 
has  the  latter-day  growth  of  industrial  towns  with  other 
fortunes  than  those  of  the  open  country,  led  them  to  seek 
separate  corporate  life.  The  conditions  which  have 
chiefly  impelled  incorporation  in  the  rest  of  the  nation, 
have  not  been  present. 

2.  The  South.  This  section,  on  the  contrary,  being 
from  the  first  sparsely  settled  and  predominantly  rural, 
has  developed  no  effective  unit  of  local  government 
smaller  than  the  county.  The  little  centres,  as  they  have 
grown  up,  have  found  no  near-at-hand  civil  agency  meet- 
ing many  of  their  needs.  What  could  they  do  except  to 
seek  incorporation?  Much  that  the  township  has  done 
for  most  of  the  nation  must  be  accomplished  through 
the  incorporated  towns  in  this  section.  Stimulated  by 
such  incentive,  incorporation  is  proceeding  rapidly  here ; 
also  smaller  places  are  likely  to  become  incorporated  than 
is  the  average  in  other  sections.  Naturally,  too,  unusual 
prestige  has  attached  to  the  country  town  which  has 
largely  monopolized  such  civic  machinery  as  the  section 
afforded. 

3.  The  Middle-West.  Local  government  here  has 
been  less  adequate  for  massed  populations  than  that  of 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPEPTS  35 

New  England,  but  more  adetiuate  than  that  of  the  South. 
Rural  prosperity  has  allowed  this  section  to  aft'ord  a 
superfluity  of  little  towns  and  it  has  proceeded  to  incor- 
porate them  with  rapidity,  from  pride  as  well  as  from 
sense  of  needing?  more  adequate  governmental  machinery. 
4.  Pacific  and  Mountain  States.  All  the  factors 
which  stimulate  incorporation  in  other  sections  combine 
here  with  peculiar  urgency.  Like  the  South,  these  states 
have  not  developed  the  township  form  of  local  govern- 
ment. Consequently  incorporation  is  the  only  civic  re- 
source open  to  the  local  community.  Again,  these  states 
have  an  extremely  sparse  population,  which  hinders 
effective  rural  organization  and  throws  the  major  bur- 
dens of  civilization  upon  towns.  They  are,  relatively 
speaking,  the  rapidly  growing  sections  of  the  nation,  in 
which,  naturally,  new  centres  are  springing  up.  Finally 
the  dependence  of  agriculture  upon  irrigation,  as  has 
been  shown,  tends  to  unite  towns  and  farms.  Such  a 
condition  is  most  general  in  this  group  of  states;  the 
West  therefore  shows  the  most  rapid  rate  of  incorpora- 
tion. The  little  towns  which  constitute  but  thirteen  per 
cent,  of  the  population  of  the  nation  at  large,  approxi- 
mate thirty  per  cent,  in  Utah,  Idaho  and  Wyoming. 
Wherever  rural  population  is  forbidden  from  scattering 
over  the  land  and  is  concentrated  in  small  areas,  the 
dominance  of  the  town  bids  fair  permanently  to  change 
the  caste  of  civilization,  and  to  force  local  government 
for  the  open  country  to  discover  radically  new  forms. 

THE   LITTLE    TOWN    TYPE   OF    CIVILIZATION 

Conditions  of  Town  Influence.     Shifting  the  question 
now  from  the  distribution  of  towns  and  their  tendency 


36  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

to  incorporation,  to  that  of  the  relative  influence  of  the 
little  towns  as  a  group,  and  of  their  human  type,  in  the 
civilization  of  the  various  sections ;  it  is  the  Middle-West 
which  stands  clearly  pre-eminent.  The  influence  of  such 
a  type  gets  its  greatest  chance  not  by  virtue  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  towns  themselves,  but  by  virtue  of  such  pop- 
ulation plus  that  over  which  they  have  leadership.  The 
maximum  influence  is  not  found  where  there  is  little  or 
no  rural  population  for  the  town  to  lead;  nor  where 
there  are  great  and  commanding  cities  to  steal  its  pres- 
tige ;  but  rather  where  it  is  the  central  organizing  prin- 
ciple and  social  device  of  a  relatively  heavy  and  highly 
prosperous  rural  population,  without  extreme  urban  com- 
petition for  power  and  leadership.  These  conditions  are 
most  completely  met  over  the  natural  prairies  of  the 
Middle-West  where  the  little-town's  people  approximate 
one-fourth  of  the  total  population,  and  dominate  the  life 
of  at  least  a  half  more.  Iowa  and  New  York,  roughly 
speaking,  have  an  equal  number  of  people  in  their  little 
towns  (some  six  hundred  thousand  each)  ;  but  there  are 
twice  as  many  little  towns  in  Iowa  as  New  York  has,  and 
in  New  York  they  include  but  one-eighteenth  of  the 
total  population.  Manifestly,  then,  the  little  town  is 
much  more  influential  relatively  in  Iowa  than  in  New 
York.  Its  outlook  and  characteristic  thought  have  a 
larger  weight  in  directing  the  destinies  of  the  state. 

A  Determining  Factor  in  Civilization.  From  this 
standpoint  the  East  is  urban,  the  South  rural,  and  the 
farther  West  composed  of  cities  and  little  towns  without 
a  continuous  agricultural  basis.  It  is  Iowa,  Minnesota, 
the  Dakotas,  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  the  rural  coun- 
ties of  Illinois  and  Missouri,  with  parts  of  Indiana,  Michi- 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS    37 

gan  and  Wisconsin,  which  constitute  the  pre-eminent 
little-town  area  of  the  United  States.  Any  adequate 
social  view  of  the  nation  must  recognize  this  as  a  deter- 
mining characteristic  of  a  definite  type  of  civilization. 
In  contrast  with  over-lapping  series  of  metropolitan 
areas,  as  in  the  Northeast,  or  the  occasional  occurrence 
of  town  and  city  in  the  midst  of  waste  and  empty  ''liin- 
terland, "  as  in  the  far  West,  the  close  neighbourhood  of 
towns — most  of  them  small — with  over-lapping  service- 
areas  covering  together  the  entire  surface  of  the  land, 
furnishes  still  one  of  the  typical  conditions  of  American 
life.  Here  most  fruitfully,  within  the  next  decade,  the 
great  experiment  of  reorganizing  rural  life  around  its 
natural  centres  will  be  tried  out. 

ECONOMIC    CLASSIFICATION   OF    TOWNS 

General  Dependence  upon  Agriculture.  Up  to  this 
point  the  discussion  has  been  treating  the  little  town  as 
essentially  a  social  phenomenon  attached  to  rural  life ; 
as  created  by,  dependent  upon  and  serving  the  country. 
It  is  true  that  the  vast  majority  of  all  towns  are  thus 
created  and  supported :  but  it  is  necessary  to  note  certain 
exceptions.  Not  all  towns  originate  by  the  thickening-up 
of  rural  life  at  certain  spots. 

Urban  Overflows.  Sometimes  the  city  turns  around 
upon  the  land.  Having  become  over-large,  it  spills  over 
into  town  forms  again.  Thus  one  finds  the  suburbs — 
residential  and  manufacturing;  the  resort  and  amuse- 
ment towns  surrounding  the  city  within  week-end  dis- 
tance. These  constitute  a  satellite  type  of  collective 
life.  Every  metropolis  has  a  group  of  surrounding  de- 
pendent cities  and  between  them  less  concentrated  popu- 


38  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

lations.  These  less  concentrated  populations  are  im- 
posed upon  old  town  or  township  areas.  Many  of  them 
still  remain  towns  in  form  and  in  law,  but  not  in  domi- 
nant character.  They  cease,  for  example,  to  be  trade 
centres  for  their  own  surrounding  country.  Farm  prod- 
uce is  first  shipped  to  the  larger  city  and  then  sold  back 
to  them  at  two  profits. 

Town  Form — City  Fact.  The  New  York  metropoli- 
tan area  shows  dozens  of  examples  of  these  pseudo-towns. 
One  is  just  over  the  river  from  a  manufacturing  city. 
The  factories  which  dominate  it  do  not  want  to  pay  city 
taxes.  Probably  they  prefer  to  have  a  "free  hand"  in 
labour  troubles  rather  than  to  deal  with  a  developed  in- 
dustrial consciousness  of  a  modern  city.  Consequently 
they  maintain  their  own  fire  departments  and  supplement 
the  village  constable  with  the  hired  watchman.  In  case 
of  strike  they  ignore  the  town  police  and  call  in  profes- 
sional strike-breakers  as  deputies.  The  old  village  popu- 
lation submits,  through  inertia  and  a  willingness  to  let 
corporations  pay  their  taxes.  Calling  this  a  town  in 
the  census  reports  does  not  make  it  so.  It  is  simply  the 
spill-over  of  a  distinctively  urban  situation  into  an  area 
not  yet  organized  into  proper  urban  forms. 

County  Form — City  Fact.  The  urban  spirit  creates 
pseudo-country  as  well  as  pseudo-towns.  A  queer  com- 
bination of  transplanted  New  England  tradition  and 
urban  snobbery  explains  the  existence  of  some  of  the 
largest  unincorporated  places  of  America  on  Long  Island 
near  New  York.  Rather  than  make  common  cause  with 
poorer  neighbours,  the  ultra-rich  refuse  the  obvious  bene- 
fits of  incorporation.  Police  and  fire  protection  are 
largely  in  private  hands.     Only  sanitation  triumphs  over 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS    39 

selfishness  and  compels  organization  of  sewer  districts. 

Metropolitan  Areas.  Recognizing  such  facts,  the  last 
Census  studied  the  metropolitan  areas  surrounding  most 
of  the  larger  cities.  Within  these  areas,  whatever  the 
civil  designation  or  the  legal  status  of  a  given  area,  life 
is  essentially  urban,  reflecting  the  city  or  its  immediate 
reactions — such  as  the  residential  suburb  is.  Thus  the 
metropolitan  area  around  Albany,  New  York,  includes 
about  fifty  thousand  people  living  under  what  may  be 
classified  as  rural  or  small-town  conditions,  but  all  funda- 
mentally affected  by  the  proximity  and  accessibility  of 
the  city  which  robs  all  the  other  units  of  their  original 
character. 

Towns  Created  by  the  Primary  Industries.  An  in- 
teresting variation  in  towns  is  presented  by  those  which 
grow  up  as  centres  of  the  mining  or  lumbering  indus- 
tries. They  are  true  towns  in  many  of  their  characteris- 
tics. They  are  supported  by  their  respective  primary 
industries  which  occupy  a  surrounding  area,  just  as  the 
farm  centre  is  supported  by  the  outlying  farm  lands. 
They  have  perhaps  half  their  populations  working  in 
small  groups  in  comparative  isolation  from  the  centre. 
These  outlying  populations  use  the  centre  as  their  eco- 
nomic and  ideal  focus  just  as  the  farmer  uses  the  town. 
On  the  other  hand  mining  and  lumbering  differ  from 
agriculture  in  that  they  cannot  be  permanent  on  a  given 
area.  When  they  have  robbed  it  of  its  first  values  they 
are  done  with  the  land  for  ever.  The  towns  which  they 
create,  therefore,  are  likely  to  be  transient,  lasting  only 
so  long  as  the  limited  raw  material  of  the  industry,  and 
disappearing  when  it  is  exhausted.  While  they  last,  as 
Professor  Carver  has  shown,  they  follow  the  law  of  the 


40  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

city  as  to  population,  rather  than  that  of  the  typical 
town. 

Manufacturing  Towns.  Beside  the  thickly  populated 
metropolitan  areas  immediately  surrounding  the  larger 
cities,  larger  forms  of  concentration  are  to  be  noted. 
These  are  mapped  and  studied  by  commercial  geography. 
One-half  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  is  massed 
in  the  northeastern  one-sixth  of  its  area.  Most  of  the 
manufacturing  is  done  here  and  the  rest  is  confined  to 
quite  definite  and  relatively  small  regions  which  re- 
main strikingly  permanent.  "Within  these  areas  exist 
many  little  centres  of  population — towns  in  size  and  in 
major  characteristics — which  do  not  depend  chiefly  upon 
agriculture  for  their  living.  They  are  in  the  country 
but  not  of  it.  These  manufacturing  towns  in  a  rural 
setting  must  be  recognized  as  a  permanent  and  special 
problem.  Often  they  have  large  natural  but  forgotten 
alliances  with  the  country.  Frequently  their  material 
betterment  is  easy  under  the  benevolent  despotism  of 
the  corporation  which  owns  them,  while  from  the  stand- 
point of  genuine  civic  virtue  and  democratic  progress 
they  are  of  all  towns  most  miserable. 

Railroad  Towns.  Created  by  the  location  of  the  re- 
pair shop  or  division  station,  they  have  many  charac- 
teristics common  with  this  last  type.  They  are  arbi- 
trarily distributed  over  the  area  of  the  nation  by  the 
necessities  of  another  type  of  economic  activity  than 
farming ;  they  are  thrust  into  the  open  country.  Here 
is  a  railroad  town  in  the  arid  South-West.  Absolutely 
nothing  is  produced  by  the  country  for  miles  around, 
and  not  a  carload  of  material  has  ever  been  shipped 


EELATIONSniPS  AND  PROSPECTS    41 

out;  yet  here  are  hotel,  stores,  amusements  and  trans- 
portation agencies,  homes  and  even  churches;  all  bear- 
ing no  more  relation  to  the  area  in  which  they  are  lo- 
cated than  a  Bedouin  camp  with  its  camels  resting  in  the 
desert. 

A  Mixed  Type.  It  is  clear  that  there  is  radical 
economic  difference  between  the  agricultural  town,  de- 
pendent upon  and  serving  only  its  immediate  farming 
area,  and  the  urban  and  industrial  town  existing  for  all 
the  world  and  sending  its  products  everywhere.  So 
great  a  difference  might  almost  exclude  the  latter  group 
from  any  common  classification  with  the  former,  except 
for  the  existence  of  a  large  number  of  towns  of  a  very 
mixed  type,  where  industry  has  merely  permanently 
superimposed  upon  agriculture,  modifying  without 
overthrowing  its  distinctive  ways.  These  are  the  com- 
mon denominator  of  the  little-town  group.  Their  prob- 
lem links  them  essentially  with  both  extremes.  Here, 
however,  urban  activities  generally  induce  at  last  em- 
bryonic urban  conditions,  such  as  the  presence  of  for- 
eign population,  with  acute  class-consciousness,  and 
probably  special  problems  of  housing,  recreation,  educa- 
tion and  religion.  Such  towns  are  towns  and  more; 
they  must  drive  together  and  abreast  all  elements  and 
aspects  of  rural  and  urban  reconstruction. 

Proportions  of  Various  Classes.  No  one  knows  ex- 
actly how  many  towns  there  arc  in  any  of  the  above 
classes,  nor  even  their  vague  proportions,  the  facts  be- 
ing ungathered  or  buried  in  untabulated  data  of  the 
Census  Bureau.  But  the  vast  majority  of  the  little 
towns  of  the  nation  still  depend  upon  agriculture  and 


42  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  businesses  growing  directly  from  agriculture.  The 
relatively  few  which  do  not,  belong,  as  has  been  shown, 
rather  to  the  urban  sphere. 

County  Seats  and  School  Towns.  Within  the  domin- 
ant type  itself  interesting  sub-orders  appear, — as  when 
the  function  of  local  government  or  of  ideal  leadership 
lifts  itself  above  the  market  function.  The  first  case 
is  conspicuously  that  of  the  county-seat.  The  history 
of  its  bad  and  good,  its  oscillation  between  exploitation 
and  real  leadership,  might  well  become  a  chapter  of 
itself.  Of  the  second  type  the  little  school-town  is  the 
most  conspicuous  example.  Growing  up  with  the 
academy  or  small  college,  it  has  taken  on  a  distinctive 
life,  often  to  the  sad  neglect  of  the  specific  interests  of 
the  near-by  open  country.  But  American  civilization 
is  for  ever  the  debtor  to  this  little  Athens  and  its  type. 
They  were  the  earliest  environment  of  higher  educa- 
tion and  still  furnish  homes  to  the  majority  of  our 
colleges.  These  more  than  any  other  type  or  variety  of 
places  have  brought  the  full  range  of  American  oppor- 
tunities near  to  the  rural  boy  and  girl,  and  have  given 
the  nation  the  majority  of  its  leaders.  They  exem- 
plify the  little  town  at  its  best. 

THE   town's   prospects 

Imbedded  thus  in  the  structure  of  the  American  na- 
tion, confined  between  their  mightier  neighbours,  urban 
and  rural,  and  with  such  inner  differences  as  have  been 
described,  what  are  the  prospects  of  the  little  towns  as 
a  group?  What  chance  have  they  of  growth  and  large 
prosperity  ?  ^ 

3  Vogt,  "Rural  Sociology,"  p.  358. 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS    43 

Scant  Prospects  of  Becoming  Cities.  The  State  of 
Kansas  has  for  its  motto,  "Ad  astru  per  aspera. "  Ac- 
cording to  a  local  wit  this  means;  "Property  will  be 
higher  in  the  spring."  The  expectation  of  rapid  growth 
through  the  coming  of  the  people  from  somewhere 
else,  has  been  justified  for  the  American  nation  as  a 
whole,  as,  state  by  state,  it  has  possessed  the  continent 
from  east  to  west.  It  has  therefore  been  successively 
the  expectation  of  each  minor  division ;  and  especially 
is  it  the  familiar  spirit  of  the  little  towns.  The  pos- 
sibility to  which  half  of  them  at  least  are  giving  most 
devoted  attention,  is  that  of  becoming  a  city ;  and  this 
in  most  cases  is  an  impossibility. 

"Chicago,  Arizona,"  or  "Baltimore,  Oklahoma,"  or 
"Boston,  Wyoming"!  The  presumptuous  spectacle 
presented  by  such  towns  is  keenly  satirized  by  Professor 
Frank  A.  Waugh.  "They  are  like  old  maids,  forsaken 
by  opportunity  but  still  simpering  and  smiling  as  though 
commanding  a  fecund  future.  The  Western  states  are 
especially  burdened  with  such  still-born  metropoli. 
Every  cross  roads  is  going  to  become  a  county  seat; 
every  county  seat  aspires  to  be  the  state  capital.  ]\Iean- 
while  no  town  has  the  inspiration  and  dignity  to  be 
itself.  ...  In  ninety-nine  villages  and  towns  out  of  ev- 
ery hundred  throughout  the  United  States — more  espe- 
cially in  the  South  and  West — the  first  work  of  com- 
munity improvement  lies  in  killing  the  poison  of  a  false 
ambition  and  establishing  a  patriotic  self-respect."  *  In 
other  words,  the  little  towns  except  in  rare  instances — 
are  not  going  to  become  cities.  They  might  as  well 
make  virtue  of  necessity   and   graciously  accept   their 

4  Waugh,  "Rural  Improvement,"  p.  161. 


44  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

limitations,  as  one  learns  to  accept  any  of  life's  inevi- 
tables. 

Limited  Prospects  Even  With  Exceptional  Advan- 
tages. This  judgment  is  confirmed  by  a  study  of 
county-seat  towns  in  representative  states  of  each  sec- 
tion. As  a  group,  county-seats  are  more  evenly  dis- 
tributed geographically  than  any  other  group  of  towns 
which  can  be  selected;  and  they  must  represent  some- 
thing more  than  an  average  of  town  success  or  they 
would  never  have  become  county-seats.  As  a  group 
therefore,  their  prospects  should  be  distinctly  better 
than  those  of  the  towns  as  a  whole. 

The  East.  New  Jersey  is  typical  of  the  Atlantic  sea, 
board.  A  small  state  between  two  great  cities,  its  re . 
cent  little-town  growth  is  almost  exclusively  a  spilling, 
over  of  urban  life  into  suburbs — residential,  resort  anci/ 
manufacturing.  All  these  populations  are  really  mobile 
ized  by  the  city.  They  may  be  in  the  towns;  they  ar(^ 
not  of  them.  Apart  from  these  by-products  of  urbar/ 
growth,  there  is  no  movement  toward  the  little  towns  iii 
New  Jersey.  In  the  rural  counties  their  population;; 
are  either  stationary  or  declining. 

The  South.  Until  recently  this  section  has  been  eX' 
cessively  rural.  It  is  now  experiencing  simply  normal 
urban  growth,  which  naturally  includes  a  fair  measure 
of  growth  in  the  little  towns.  Their  average  increase, 
however,  is  anything  but  striking.  In  Alabama  for 
example,  one-sixth  of  the  county-seats  lost  population 
in  the  decade  previous  to  1910. 

The  Middle-West.  The  North-Central  States  furnish 
the  most  disillusionizing  data  concerning  little-town 
prospects.     These  have  the  largest  proportion  of  little 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS    45 

towns  and  in  their  life  the  town  factor  is  most  influen- 
tial. Most  of  their  county-seats  have  less  than  five 
thousand  population,  and  far  more  of  these  lost  than 
gained  population  in  the  decade  under  consideration. 
Thus  in  Michigan,  twenty-six  declined  or  were  stationary 
to  nineteen  which  gained ;  in  Illinois  thirty-five  to  thirty 
which  gained.  Iowa's  case  is  the  worst:  of  seventy-five 
county-seats  of  the  little-town  class,  eighteen  were  sta- 
tionary and  thirty-eight  lost;  that  is,  two-thirds  of  them 
saw  the  prospect  of  becoming  a  city  definitely  receding. 

Selling  Lots  in  Anamosa.  A  New  Yorker  who  inher- 
ited Iowa  town  property  spends  his  days  wondering 
why  he  cannot  sell  his  lots  in  Anamosa.  The  answer 
should  be  fairly  obvious :  nobody  is  selling  lots  in 
Anamosa;  nor  in  seven  thousand  other  like  places  in 
the  nine  states  stretching  from  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania to  Missouri  and  Iowa."  These  seven  thousand 
towns  had  fewer  people  in  them  in  1910  than  they  had 
ten  years  before.  They  constitute  well  over  a  half  of 
the  little  towns  of  the  nation :  they  justify  the  pre- 
sumption (nobody  has  actually  counted)  that  probably 
two-thirds  of  the  total  number  are  without  justifiable 
hope  of  numerical  increase.  No  wonder  the  bond  buyer 
looks  askance  at  their  municipal  securities.  Four  states 
of  this  group  reported  loss  of  rural  population  in  the 
last  Census  decade:     Ohio,  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Missouri. 

But  ''rural,"  in  the  statistical  sense,  includes  all 
towns  of  twenty-five  hundred  population  or  less.  The 
actual  loss  of  population  in  these  states  was  largely 
in  the  little  towns. 

6  See  Gillen,  "Community  Development  and  the  State  Univer- 
sity," in  Toum  Development,  XII,  p.  99. 


46  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Mountain  and  Pacific  States.  The  regions  of  little 
rainfall,  if  populated  at  all,  must  become  so  by  means 
of  irrigation;  which  ordinarily  means  the  cultivation 
of  land  in  small  tracts,  and  the  grouping  of  popula- 
tions in  towns.  The  Mountain  and  Pacific  Coast  states, 
therefore,  reveal  the  little  towns  as  a  group  enjoying 
rapid  growth.  This  condition  is,  however,  by  no  means 
uniform  or  invariable.  All  the  older  areas  of  this  region 
are  already  subject  to  the  same  tendencies  as  prevail 
in  the  rest  of  the  country.  One-third  of  Colorado's 
county-seats  of  the  little-town  class  lost  population — 
some  of  them  strikingly — between  1900-10.  Country 
towns  in  the  earlier-settled  valleys  of  California  and 
Oregon  tell  the  same  tale. 

Competition  within  the  Class.  And  even  where  the 
little  town  is  growing  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
individual  places  will  continue  to  grow.  ■  Unborn  rivals 
will  spring  up,  as  they  have  been  doing  everywhere  in 
older  sections  during  the  last  Census  decade.  Virtually 
one-sixth  of  all  the  little  towns  of  America — over  two 
thousand  in  all — came  into  being  during  that  period. 
At  the  same  time,  the  growth  of  rural  population  was 
greatly  checked  and  the  larger  cities  took  mighty  strides. 
The  little-town  group  has  indeed  equalled  the  second- 
class  cities  in  growth  and  surpassed  the  smaller  cities; 
but  almost  everywhere  the  individual  town  has  experi- 
enced greatly  sharpened  competition. 

Competition  of  the  City.  From  the  standpoint  of 
numerical  growth,  then,  the  prospects  of  the  little  town 
are  far  from  bright.  Beside  the  fact  of  competition 
within  its  class,  there  are  two  farther  reasons  for  this : 
first,  of  course,  the  competition  of  the  city.     This  is  not 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS  47 

so  obvious  nor  irritating  as  that  of  the  town's  immedi- 
ately rival  neighbours;  but  it  is  e(|ually  fundamental. 
The  city's  tentacles  are  for  ever  lengthening  to  rob  the 
little  town  of  its  very  life, — namely,  its  trade.  Mail- 
order houses  sell  directly  to  the  farmer  by  the  million  dol- 
lars'  worth  of  goods.  Parcels-post  facilitates  the  process, 
aided  and  abetted  by  the  rural  free  delivery.  The 
good  roads  movement,  as  planned  chiefly  by  and  for 
the  cities,  tends  to  regard  the  little  towns  as  incidental. 
The  machinery  of  civilization,  in  brief,  gravitates  into 
the  hands  of  their  over-grown  rivals.  Prestige  runs  in 
the  same  channel;  the  lure  of  the  city  conquers  the  little- 
townsman  first,  because  he  cherishes  incipient  contempt 
for  his  own  sphere  of  life.  His  ampler  ambitions  al- 
ready lie  in  an  urban  direction. 

Limits  Set  by  Extensive  Agriculture.  And  quite 
apart  from  the  acute  competition  of  other  little  towns 
and  of  the  great  city,  economic  forces  set  straight  limits 
to  the  growth  of  little  towns  under  any  system  of  ex- 
tensive agriculture.  Disguised  and  forgotten  so  long 
as  the  nation  had  an  abundance  of  free  land  which 
was  being  rapidly  occupied,  these  forces  nevertheless 
operate  relentlessly;  they  force  themselves  upon  atten- 
tion especially  now  that  our  good  land  is  substantially 
all  pre-empted.  Their  operation  is  traced  by  the  eco- 
nomist as  follows:  agricultural  populations  tend  to 
spread  out  thinly  upon  the  land  so  long  as  there  is  any 
open  land  of  similar  quality  elsewhere  to  which  migra- 
tion may  go.  There  is  yet  fertile  land  in  the  temperate 
portions  of  the  globe;  for  example,  in  Canada.  The 
Western  farmer  therefore  migrates  to  Canada.  He 
might  have  divided  his  farm  between  his  boys ;  he  does 


48  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

not  do  so  because  extensive  farming  yields  more  valuable 
product  per  worker — and  hence  a  larger  reward — than 
intensive  farming.  Agriculture  could  easily  work  a 
smaller  unit  of  land  more  thoroughly  and  thus  support 
more  people  per  square  mile.  But  there  is  no  tempta- 
tion to  do  it  so  long  as  it  means  merely  that  each  worker 
involved  would  work  harder  for  no  greater  reward. 
"We  do  not  find,  therefore,  and  are  not  to  look  in  any 
near  future,  for  substantial  increase  of  rural  popula- 
tion in  the  older  states.  But  little-town  population 
cannot  possibly  grow  faster  than  rural  population. 
Except  in  the  small  minority  of  cases  where  it  depends 
upon  manufacturing,  it  has  no  function  save  to  serve 
the  country  as  a  centre  for  trade  and  ideals.  City 
growth  follows  another  law:  it  is  as  rapid  and  as  limit- 
less as  the  multiplication  of  human  desires.  The  coun- 
try is  growing,  normally  perhaps;  but  slowly,  as  it 
must.  There  is  absolutely  nothing  that  the  little  towns 
as  a  group  can  do  to  hasten  their  independent  growth. 
If  therefore,  their  number  largely  increases,  as  it  is  do- 
ing, many  of  them  cannot  grow  at  all;  and  many  must 
actually  lose  in  population.  This  corresponds  with  the 
facts,  and  reveals  the  little  town's  handicap  as  funda- 
mental and  permanent, — at  least  until  we  enter  upon 
some  radically  different  system  of  agricultural  economy. 
Nothing  can  make  it  grow  except  to  get  more  people 
upon  the  land,  and  this  is  not  generally  in  prospect  in 
any  of  the  well-settled  regions  of  the  country.  The 
other  conceivable  alternative — namely,  to  get  manufac- 
turing generally  diffused — flies  in  the  face  of  the  equally 
stubborn  fact  that  manufacturing,  for  strong  and  per- 
sistent reasons,  tends  to  concentrate. 


RELATIONSHIPS  AND  PROSPECTS  49 

Self-Discipline.  Nothing  sane  can  be  done  by  the 
little  towns  till  they  conform  their  spirits  to  this  pros- 
pect of  narrowly  limited  growth.  This  is  at  total  outs 
with  their  characteristic  mood  of  booming  bumptious- 
ness. They  were  projected  as  rivals  of  Chicago  or 
Seattle.  Their  streets  are  too  wide  and  therefore  full 
of  weeds;  their  "Grand  Hotel"  is  too  big  and  therefore 
moulders  in  decrepitude ;  their  churches  are  too  many 
and  therefore  starve  out  a  miserable  career  of  rivalry; 
their  stores  also  are  too  many, — but  fortunately  rival 
stores  are  not  kept  alive  by  denomination  subsidies. 
Rows  of  unoccupied  store  buildings  however,  complete 
the   picture   of   mal-adjustment   to    actual   possibilities. 

To  the  little  towns  of  America  therefore,  one  scrip- 
ture comes  with  peculiar  force  and  aptness;  that  which 
counsels  against  thinking  of  oneself  "more  highly  than 
he  ought  to  think,"  and  which  exhorts,  "So  to  think 
as  to  think  soberly."  This  does  not  preclude  a  tem- 
perate enthusiasm  which  has  a  right  to  become  exuber- 
ant whenever  it  finds  good  cause  in  a  given  case,  and 
which  does  find  good  cause  generally  in  the  considera- 
tion of  the  fairer  possibilities  of  the  little  town  as  a 
little  town.  Within  the  limits  of  its  typical  character 
— not  in  the  futile  attempt  to  escape  from  it — many  of 
the  better  destinies  of  America  are  to  be  shaped. 


Ill 

THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY 

THE   ARTIFICIAL   DIVIDING   OF    A    CONTINENT 

George  Washington  was  a  farmer  and  a  surveyor. 
To  these  two  characters  his  title  as  Father  of  his  Coun- 
try is  more  justly  due  than  to  political  wisdom  or  mili- 
tary exploits.  The  farmer  and  the  surveyor  stretched 
forth  their  rod  over  our  whole  land :  we  received  a  con- 
tinent from  them.  The  surveyor  conceived  it  for  the 
convenience  and  potential  occupancy  of  the  farmer  as 
consisting  of  so  many  rectangles,  larger  or  smaller  (sec- 
tions, half-sections,  quarter-sections,  and  their  small  sub- 
division), to  be  divided  from  one  another  by  clear  and 
explicit  boundary  lines.  It  is  recognized  that  our  sys- 
tem of  land  surveying  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  Ameri- 
can social  inventions;  an  immeasurable  aid  to  the  actual 
settlement  of  the  continent  by  the  farm  owners  on 
small  holdings;  the  mechanical  expression  of  the  deep 
instinct  which  made  America  a  nation  of  homes.  In 
this  interest,  a  remarkable  and  far-sighted  policy  cut 
up  the  entire  continent  back  from  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board.^ Politically,  it  covered  most  of  this  area  by 
townships,  usually  six  miles  square.  Physical  features 
were  generally  ignored,  and  social  considerations  were 
ordinarily  not  even  considered  in  creating  these  basal 
civil  units.     Even  the  counties  generally  became  rec- 

1  Carver,  "Principles  of  Rural  Economics,"  p.  74. 

50 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  51 

tcangular  areas,  sliowinj^  nothing  informing  as  to  social 
structure  Avithin,  nor  as  to  larger  social  relationships. 
In  short  the  land  was  divided  artificially  and  geometri- 
cally; its  local  units  did  not  recognize  the  natural  politi- 
cal and  social  areas,  nor  show  the  actual  working  rela- 
tionships and  human  groupings  of  the  people  who 
occupied  it. 

"rurbanism":  the  town  the  country's  capital 

Natural  Social  Units.  When  one  starts  out  to  trace 
the  actual  social  structure  of  the  smaller  units  of  popula- 
tion, namely  neighbourhoods  and  primary  communities, 
— he  discovers  facts  in  greatest  possible  contrast  to  a 
geometrical  scheme.  The  continent,  as  viewed  by  social 
analysis,  is  covered  by  a  more  or  less  over-lapping  series 
of  city-  and  town-centres,  each  with,  a  dependent  and 
supporting  rural  area.  Any  fundamental  social  view- 
point must  concern  itself  with  these  natural  areas,  and 
the  forces  which  create  them,  which  organize  their  in- 
ner life,  set  their  limits  and  determine  their  relation- 
ships. A  social  judgment  of  America  cannot  be  writ- 
ten in  terms  of  existing  civil-government  units. 

The  Rural  Regions  Organized  Around  Centres.  To 
challenge  definite  and  adequate  attention  to  the  exist- 
ence of  natural  social  units  and  especially  to  signify 
the  organization  of  the  rural  regions  around  small  cen- 
tres, the  social  students  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
have  coined  the  term  "rurbanism.''  A  "rurban"  com- 
munity consists  of  the  village  or  towTi-centre  with  its 
surrounding  farm  population  which  uses  the  centre  as 
its  economic  and  ideal  focus.  Such  a  community  always 
occupies  a  relatively  definite  area  which  can  be  outlined 


52  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

and  charted.  Its  limits  are  not  the  hard  and  fast  limits 
of  town  or  county  lines  as  fixed  by  law.  They  are  as 
fluctuating  as  human  purposes,  yet  they  maintain  sub- 
stantial permanence  through  long  series  of  years.  Prof. 
Charles  J.  Galpin  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  ''the 
farm  families  making  up  the  trade  population  of  the 
same  centre  are  more  closely  related  to  each  other  than 
to  any  other  group  of  farmers ;  and  more  closely  related 
to  the  population  of  their  centre  than  to  that  of  any 
other  centre,  or  even  to  any  other  group."  ^  If  this  is 
true  we  ought  not  to  think  of  homogeneous  rural  popula- 
tions in  general  contrast  with  town  populations ;  for  each 
particular  farming  community  has  larger  identification 
with  the  town  people  at  its  centre  than  with  the  farmer 
of  the  next  community.  It  is  these  other  farmers  who 
are  alien — not  the  people  of  his  own  town  in  whose 
streets  the  farmer  walks  daily,  and  whose  economic  and 
moral  fortunes  are  common  with  his. 

A  Human  Definition  of  a  Little  Town.  Adopting  this 
viewpoint,  a  Wisconsin  educator  offers  the  following  as 
the  working  social  attitude  of  his  community:  "Sauk 
City  has  a  population  of  nine  hundred  people.  The 
business  men  of  our  village  have  a  human  definition  of 
Sauk  City.  The  articles  of  incorporation  confine  us  to 
a  small  portion  of  this  earth  at  the  bend  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin River  consisting  of  about  120  acres.  The  community 
which  the  business  men  recognize  as  Sauk  City  sweeps 
out  into  the  country  for  miles  about  the  village,  including 
everybody  that  has  a  common  interest  with  us. "  ^ 

2  "Rural  Relations  of  tlie  Village  or  Small  City,"  Wisconsin 
Bulletin  No.  711,  p.  37. 

3  Wisconsin  Bulletin  No.  711,  p.  42. 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  53 

The  Little  Town's  Imperialism.  The  opening  chapter 
of  this  book  has  alrcatly  discussed  some  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  little  town  as  a  natural  centre,  and  as- 
serted that  its  chief  function  is  that  of  rural  leader- 
ship; it  now  remains  to  present  the  detailed  evidence 
for  these  earlier  assumptions.  The  evidence  actually 
warrants  far  more  than  has  been  claimed.  Instead  of 
the  modest  statistical  identification  of  the  little-town 
problem  with  the  fortunes  of  the  twelve  million  or  so 
people  who  live  in  incorporated  places  of  five  thousand 
or  less,  the  philosophy  of  "rurbanism"  implies  that 
most  of  the  problems  of  rural  life  are  to  be  solved 
through  the  development  of  little-town  centres  and  the 
utilization  of  their  vital  relationships  with  the  open 
country.  The  little  town  has  its  imperialism  as  well 
as  its  modesty;  in  its  keeping  are  the  destinies  of  half 
the  nation. 

FUNDAMENTAL    CHARACTERISTICS 

1.  The  Little  Town  the  Primary  Trade  Centre.  This 
is  its  first  fundamental  characteristic.  The  town's 
country  is  the  area  which  trades  with  it;  which  makes 
common  cause  with  it  in  buying  and  selling,  in  credit 
and  transportation  facilities.  Its  typical  functionaries 
are  the  retail  merchant,  the  middleman — who  takes  the 
farmer's  produce  and  turns  it  over  to  the  city  for 
consumption — the  banker,  the  post-master  and  the  rail- 
way and  express  agents. 

2.  The  Little  Town  a  Centre  of  Ideals.  The  town's 
country  is  the  area  wliich  comes  to  it  for  play,  educa- 
tion and  worship.  Here  are  the  country's  moving  pic- 
tures, its  baseball  diamonds,  and  its  Chautauquas.     The 


54  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

country's  high  schools  are  ordinarily  here,  and  most  of 
its  ministers  of  religion  live  here, — though  many  of 
them  would  do  better  in  immediate  neighbourhood  to 
the  farmer  whose  religious  life  they  interpret.  Here, 
though  the  farmer  may  not  directly  share  in  them,  are 
those  social  groups  and  activities  which  he  imitates  and 
envies.  The  little  town  is  his  school  of  fashion  and  of 
social  propriety.  Most  of  the  voluntary  social  organiza- 
tions to  which  he  may  belong,  centre  here. 

3.  The  Little  Town  a  Concentrated  Neighbourhood. 
It  may  fairly  be  called  the  residuary  possessor  of  neigh- 
bourliness, which  primitively  belongs  to  the  whole  com- 
munity. Neighbourhood  is  a  narrower  term  than  com- 
munity ;  it  stands  for  a  closer  set  of  relationships.  But, 
as  concerns  the  town  and  the  country,  the  distinction 
is  largely  the  result  of  arbitrary  forces, — particularly  of 
the  artificial  physical  basis  of  the  farm  community  in 
America.  The  rectangular  boundaries  of  its  farm  hold- 
ings; the  consequent  relations  of  the  farm  homes  to  one 
another;  the  geometrical  pattern  of  its  roads  and  means 
of  communication  all  tend  to  make  neighbourhood  diffi- 
cult in  the  open  country.  Here  isolation  rules.  The 
primitive  social  arrangements  of  our  English  forefathers 
on  the  contrary,  avoided  such  division  between  town 
and  country.  There  were  few  centres  in  which  the 
people  did  not  immediately  live  by  agriculture,  and 
no  farms  which  were  remote  from  the  centre.  Thus  in 
the  typical  manor,  the  cultivated  land  was  divided  into 
narrow  plough-strips,  assigned  to  families  in  rotation. 
Each  plough-strip  centred  in  the  village;  the  end  of 
every  other  furrow  brought  the  farmer  back  into  the 
thick  of  community  life.     Neighbourhood  and  agrieul- 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  55 

ture  were  synonymous.  The  gulf  of  feeling  between  the 
townsman  and  tlie  faniuT  could   not  exist. 

The  Terrible  Loss  of  Neighbourliness.  Tlio  American 
continent  theoretically  might  have  been  divided  in  a 
similar  way, — as  it  virtually  was  in  many  New  England 
villages.  Their  farm  holdings  were  relatively  small, 
stretching  back  in  narrow  fields  from  a  street  on  which 
all  the  houses  fronted.  Neighbourhood  was  not  at  war 
with  agriculture;  the  distinctive  quality  of  New  Eng- 
land life  grows  largely  out  of  this  fact.  But  through- 
out most  of  the  nation,  extensive  farming  and  the  sur- 
veyor's section  lines  divorced  agriculture  from  neigh- 
bourhood, decreeing  isolation  for  the  average  farmer,  and 
preserving  the  more  definite  experiences  of  neighbour- 
hood only  to  the  closely  built-up  town  centre.  Under 
pioneer  arrangements,  the  economic  independence  of 
the  single  family  left  it  small  practical  need  of  a  town ; 
its  spiritual  need  continued  unabated.  The  loss  of 
neighbourliness  was  humanly  terrible  and  caused  the 
pioneer's  life  to  verge  on  savagery. 

An  Incomplete  Recovery.  When  the  pioneer  had 
turned  fanner  and  began  to  exchange  his  products  for 
the  goods  of  the  city  and  of  foreign  lands  under  modern 
industrial  economy,  ho  was  compelled  to  create  town- 
centres  to  stand  between  him  and  his  distant  markets. 
His  dealings  with  them,  however,  have  remained  primar- 
ily practical.  True,  the  major  institutions  of  the  com- 
mon community  ideals  focus  here,  but  this  does  not 
bring  a  complete  recovery  of  neighbourly  experience. 
Compared  with  the  sense  of  natural  comradeship  with 
his  immediate  farm  neighbours,  the  countryman's  at- 
titude towards  the  townsman  is  one  of  estrangement, 


56  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

and  the  townsman  reciprocates.  The  chief  moral  prob- 
lem of  the  town  and  country  is  to  find  a  spiritual  equiva- 
lent and  expression  of  their  newly-knitted  economic 
fortunes. 

The  Town's  Treasure.  The  townsman,  however,  kept 
for  himself  and  his  own  town-group  the  strongest  and 
completest  version  of  neighbourly  experience  which  ex- 
ists. This  remains  one  of  the  town's  central  character- 
istics. On  this  account  the  town  presents  the  most 
human  type  of  existence.  The  open  country  lost  by 
isolation;  the  city  loses  by  congestion.  Through  close 
neighbourhood  the  little  town  is  the  remaining  seed-bed 
of  the  primary  social  virtues,  which  grow  up  about 
simple,  direct  and  personal  inter-relationships  and  ex- 
change of  services  between  people.  The  social  value 
of  preserving  this  character  cannot  be  over-stated.  It 
has  fundamental  religious  significance  and  is  susceptible 
of  revolutionary  expression  in  behalf  of  social  ideals. 
The  little  town  has  it ;  the  entire  nation  needs  it.  May 
one  not  trust  that  the  town  is  simply  its  keeper  against 
a  day  of  its  full  realization  for  the  whole  people? 

THE   town's   evolution 

Grain  Elevator  and  Cattle  Pens.  A  study  of  the  evo- 
lution of  the  typical  small  town  substantiates  these  char- 
acterizations and  shows  how  they  came  into  being.  In 
the  newer  West,  for  example,  town  beginnings  are  in- 
dicated by  the  grain  elevator  and  cattle  pens.  They 
arise  even  before  the  permanent  railroad  station  and 
are  in  use  only  during  the  shipping  season.  The  em- 
bryonic town  functions  are  performed  seasonally;  most 


I 


o 


1-^ 


o 
a. 
a. 
o 
« 

i  a 


CO 


c  i 

o 
o 

j3 


a 
o 


o 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  57 

of  the  year  everybody  is  a  fanner.  For  a  little  while, 
however,  some  farmer  must  detach  himself  from  the 
fields  to  attend  to  the  grain  and  cattle  shipments,  and 
the  railroad  must  send  a  man  from  elsewhere  to  per- 
form the  technical  duties  of  a  transportation  agent. 
The  farmer  who  lives  nearest  to  the  station  "keeps" 
the  transient  town-man  and  gets  in  the  habit  of  furnish- 
ing lodging  for  those  farmers  who  come  from  such  a 
distance  that  they  cannot  drive  back  home  the  same 
night. 

The  First  TowTisman.  Next  comes  the  permanent 
railroad  agent  wlio  regularly  boards  with  this  farmer. 
His  coming  constitutes  the  first  definite  break  with  a 
purely  rural  situation.  Here  is  one  man  who  gains  his 
livelihood  otherwise  than  from  the  soil;  and  another 
who  gains  his  by  lodging  and  feeding  the  first.  It  then 
occurs  to  the  next  nearest  farmer  to  move  his  house 
to  the  other  end  of  his  farm, — so  as  to  be  near  the  track 
— and  to  put  a  little  stock  of  goods  in  his  dining-room. 
His  women  folks  begin  to  hand  out  occasional  blocks  of 
tobacco  and  plough  points,  while  he  himself  farms  as 
usual.  But  as  the  farm  lands  of  the  surrounding  area 
become  occupied,  store-keeping  becomes  more  remun- 
erative for  him  than  farming,  and  he  takes  his  place 
as  a  permanent  townsman.  The  corporation  which  main- 
tains a  "string"  of  lumber  yards  and  implement  ware- 
houses along  the  railroad,  starts  a  branch  at  the  new 
centre.  Its  employes  must  be  fed  and  lodged,  which 
justifies  farmer  Number  One  in  turning  his  house  into  a 
hotel.  Some  provision  for  amusement,  generally  in  the 
.shape  of  a  pool  hall,  follows  next ;  then  one  of  the 
lumber  yard  employes  marries,  boards  for  a  while,  but 


58  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

with  the  coming  of  a  child,  builds  the  first  distinctively 
town  home  in  the  community. 

Institutions.  After  a  little  there  are  enough  town 
children  to  suggest  moving  in  the  country  school  from 
its  old  location  to  the  town  centre;  after  agitation  and 
disagreement  the  project  carries.  Already  the  denom- 
inational missionary  has  come  to  hold  religious  service 
in  the  schoolhouse,  and  to  organize  a  church.  The  loca- 
tion of  buildings  now  gets  attention.  Main  Street  is 
laid  out  parallel  to  or  at  right-angles  with  the  railroad 
and  one  or  two  side  streets,  along  which  houses  come 
to  arrange  themselves.  Down  the  track  at  the  edge  of 
the  marsh  the  railroad  builds  cheap  cabins  for  its  sec- 
tion hands  and  the  first  breath  of  class  distinction  en- 
ters the  community.  The  little  town  is  now  fairly  de- 
fined and  enters  upon  its  typical  career,  with  unbounded 
confidence  in  itself  and  in  sharp  rivalry  with  its  neigh- 
bours. 

Regional  Variations.  This  is  the  essential  story  of 
ten  thousand  American  communities  varied  only  in  out- 
ward aspect.  In  the  South  its  beginnings  are  the  cot- 
ton gin  and  the  country  store;  in  the  farther  West,  the 
irrigation  ditch;  but  the  essential  processes  of  town 
building  are  the  same,  and  the  fundamental  identifica- 
tion of  the  fortunes  of  town  and  surrounding  country 
are  almost  never  absent. 

Influence  of  Speculation.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
the  actual  life-history  of  the  newer  little  towns  fre- 
quently reverses  the  typical  story  in  important  respects. 
With  the  spectacular  westward  movement  of  our  civiliza- 
tion— that  most  marvellous  and  conspicuous  fact  in 
American   history, — and   particularly  with   the   unpar- 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  59 

alleled  rise  in  land  values,  came  an  exploiting  spirit 
with  respect  to  the  land,  which  largely  expressed  itiielf 
in  speculative  town  building.  Under  such  circumstances, 
to  start  a  town  was  essentially  to  gamble  on  the  rapid 
filling  up  of  a  territory  and  the  rise  of  its  land  values. 
The  townsman  no  longer  waited  till  rural  development 
had  called  his  functions  into  being,  but  rushed  ahead 
to  be  ready  with  his  functions  when  the  farmer  arrived, 
— all  in  hot  rivalry  with  other  towns  and  with  his  fel- 
low-townsman, as  to  who  should  be  there  first.  Fre- 
quently, after  the  opening  of  a  new  Indian  reservation, 
the  first  town-agents  across  the  border  were  an  auto- 
mobile with  a  bank  safe  in  it,  and  another  with  a  stock 
of  liquors.  Speculative  town  building  naturall}'  exag- 
gerated the  difference  between  the  townsman  and  the 
farmer.  Instead  of  being  partners  in  a  legitimate  en- 
terprise, the  townsman  came  with  the  purpose  of  ex- 
ploiting the  farmer;  and  the  farmer  responded  with 
distrust  and  dislike.  This  poisoned  from  the  beginning 
the  natural  attitudes  of  the  two;  it  obscured  the  es- 
sential mutuality  of  their  fortunes;  and  especially  it 
forgot  the  total  dependence  of  the  town  upon  the  pro- 
ductive country  for  life  and  prosperity. 

Normal  Effect  of  Growth.  Even  without  the  virus  of 
the  speculative  spirit,  the  town  which  reaches  perhaps 
twenty-five  hundred  population  tends  to  forget  its  funda- 
mental land-basis.  Many  of  its  inhabitants  go  through 
life  never  having  guessed  it.  Thus  in  a  typical  com- 
munity recently  surveyed,  about  five  thousand  people 
are  getting  their  mail  from  a  town  post  office  directly, 
or  by  carrier,  and  are  trading  at  the  town  stores.  These 
constitute  the  "rurban"  community.     About  half  of  the 


60  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

trade  comes  from  the  farmer;  the  other  half  from  the 
townspeople  themselves.  The  farmers  have  the  larger 
half  of  the  local  bank  deposits.  Pour-fifths  of  the  farm- 
ers belonging  to  any  church  in  the  region,  belong  to  the 
town  churches.  Such  is  the  closeness  of  their  identical 
interests.  But  two  or  three  grocery  and  dry  goods 
stores  have  already  begun  to  cater  to  the  townsman's 
peculiar  tastes,  particularly  in  their  method  of  display- 
ing goods.  There  is  a  large  group  of  business  places 
in  which  townsman  and  farmer  do  not  meet.  The 
farmer  raises  his  own  meat,  gets  along  with  limited 
furniture  and  wears  next  to  no  jewellery.  Stores  deal- 
ing in  these  commodities  are  patronized  only  by  the 
townsman.  The  farmer  has  the  vehicle  and  implement 
warehouses  chiefly  to  himself.  The  electric  light  plant, 
the  water-works  and  the  sewers  serve  the  town  popula- 
tion exclusively,  and  the  employes  of  these  enterprises 
have  no  direct  dealings  with  the  farmer.  Consequently 
the  two  halves  of  the  community  begin  to  lose  conscious- 
ness of  each  other.  One  or  more  churches  acquire  urban 
pretensions  and  lose  most  of  their  rural  membership. 
In  the  end  a  relatively  complete  order  of  town  life 
arises,  which  follows  its  own  ends  narrowly  and  for- 
gets, even  if  it  ever  knew,  that  it  produces  absolutely 
nothing  and  could  not  live  even  for  a  week  without  the 
farmer  and  his  toil. 

The  "Black  Belt."  Perhaps  the  most  appalling 
aspect  of  the  division  of  town  and  open  country  from 
one  another,  concerns  the  area  immediately  surround- 
ing the  town.  Just  beyond  its  limits,  as  typical  surveys 
have  discovered,  lies  a  belt  of  farm  lands  inhabited  by  a 
group  of  farm  people  less  adequately  furnished  with  the 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  Gl 

neighbourhood  spirit  and  less  effectively  served  by  the 
institutions  of  civilization  than  those  farther  from  the 
centre.  They  could  go  to  town — they  are  near  enough; 
but  they  do  not  feel  welcome  nor  at  home.  Yet,  in 
sight  of  the  church  spires  and  within  sound  of  the 
school  bell,  they  do  not  feel  forced  to  develop  their 
own  institutions  as  the  remoter  farmers  do.  Hence 
they  remain  in  tragical  stalemate, — not  truly  of  the 
town  nor  yet  of  the  country.  The  first  exercise  of  the 
town's  broader  spirit  of  neighbourliness  should  be  in 
their  behalf.* 

THE   TOWN    IN    THE   SOCIAL   PATTERN    OF   THE   NATION 

What  is  a  County?  Turning  now^  from  the  consid- 
eration of  the  particular  centre  and  its  surrounding 
country,  to  study  the  contacts  and  over-lappings  of  these 
natural  communities  within  larger  areas,  one  finds  the 
best  concrete  evidence  in  the  social  surveys  of  typical 
counties.  Take  Walworth  County  in  Wisconsin,  for 
example :  ^  its  vital  relations  are  not  indicated  nor  so 
much  as  suggested  by  a  mere  map  w^hich  locates  every 
farm,  every  road,  every  store,  every  church,  school  and 
social  institution.  Humanly  and  vitally  it  consists  of 
twelve  civic  centres  or  little  towns,  each  with  its  sur- 
rounding service-area.  Their  edges  frequently  over-lap, 
because  the  farmer  remotest  from  the  centres  has  a  choice 
of  two  or  more  towns  at  which  to  trade  or  to  worship. 
He  fluctuates  from  one  to  the  other  in  response  to  the 

4  Wilson,  "Church  at  the  Center,"  p.  81. 

sGalpin,  "A  Social  Survey  of  Walworth  County,  Wis,"  in  The 
Social  Anatomy  of  an  Agricultural  Community,  University  of 
Wisconsin  Research  Bulletin  No.  34,  p.  2. 


62  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

competitive  bids  from  town  merchants  or  ministers  for 
his  patronage.  Yet  organization  around  twelve  centres 
is  the  essential  and  permanent  feature  of  the  county's 
social  life. 

Fluctuating  Boundaries.  Naturally  the  area  within 
which  a  town  performs  a  given  function  is  not  exactly 
the  same  as  that  in  which  it  performs  a  different  one. 
A  trade  centre  is  also  a  banking  centre,  but  to  a  some- 
what larger  area;  because  of  course,  there  are  many 
country  stores  which  limit  the  trade  area,  while  there 
are  only  town  banks.  Its  newspaper  zone  is  still  larger 
than  its  banking  area ;  but  its  milk  zone  is  smaller.  The 
newspaper  does  not  sour  as  the  farmer  carries  it  home, 
though  the  milk  may  sour  if  he  tries  to  carry  it  an  equal 
distance  to  town.  Consequently  the  creamery  must  be 
nearer  than  the  post  ofBce.  A  man  will  go  farther  to 
trade  than  he  will  to  pray;  consequently  the  church 
zones  of  these  twelve  centres  are  smaller  than  their  trade 
zones, — strictly  rural  churches  filling  up  the  gaps  be- 
tween. The  high  school  zones  are  even  more  extensive, 
but  they  are  less  universally  used  by  country  people 
than  are  the  town's  economic  or  even  religious  facilities. 
In  this  respect  the  town  functions  very  imperfectly;  it 
is  nevertheless  a  school  centre  and  also  a  library  centre 
for  a  definite  farm  area  surrounding  it.  No  picture  of 
its  life  is  complete  or  even  conceivable  which  does  not  in- 
clude the  fact  of  its  manifold  out-reach  into  the  open 
country. 

The  Actual  Community.  "When  one  has  mapped  each 
of  the  service  zones  surrounding  the  little  town  and 
placed  map  upon  map,  he  gets  the  general  area  within 
which  the  town  is  the  country's  centre  and  capital.     The 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  63 

outlines  of  the  area  are  not  completely  distinct ;  thin- 
nings-out and  over-lapping  characterize  the  edges.  But 
consider  the  county  as  a  whole,  and  all  the  farm  land  is 
seen  to  belong  to  some  town  or  other.  The  country  is 
the  town's  country,  and  the  town  in  every  case  is  the 
country's  town.  This  is  the  discovery  of  the  actual  as 
over  against  the  legal  community.  It  is  the  revelation 
of  the  essential  social  pattern  of  the  American  nation. 
Most  of  the  areas  of  the  United  States  consists  of  just 
such  over-lapping  series  of  adjacent  town  centres  with 
their  supporting  land  areas.  In  them  "the  apparent 
entanglement  of  human  life  is  resolved  into  a  fairly 
unitary  system  of  inter-relatedness.  The  fundamental 
community  is  a  composite  of  many  expanding  and  con- 
tracting feature-communities,  possessing  the  character- 
istic pulsating  instability  of  all  real  life."*"' 

"Fairly  Unitary."  The  qualification  expressed  in 
this  quotation  needs  farther  attention.  The  social  sys- 
tem of  town-and-surrounding-country  is  only  "fairly 
unitary";  first,  as  has  been  seen,  because  the  dominance 
of  the  older  centre  is  frequently  challenged  by  the 
growth  and  ambitions  of  the  incomplete  civic  centres, 
which  generally  lie  in  the  margins  of  its  territory  and 
already  duplicate  some  of  its  institutions.  As  they 
wax  strong  enough,  they  compete  for  its  farther  ad- 
vantages one  after  another.  Their  legitimate  claims  and 
rights  of  development  have  to  be  allowed  for  in  any 
reasonable  plan  of  community  progress. 

"Scrambling."  Again,  the  older  regions  accumulate 
many  exceptions  to  the  unitary  tendency.  Thus  a  typi- 
cal community  of  the  Middle  Atlantic   States,  cut  by 

6  Wisconsin  Research  Bulletin  No.  34,  p.  18. 


64  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

class  stratifications  of  long  standing,  presents  a  far  less 
simple  situation  than  the  average  community  of  the 
Middle  West.  Here  a  typical  survey  ^  finds  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  old  landed  aristocracy  and  of  the  ''mean 
white,"  of  former  Negro  slaves  and  of  more  recent 
alien  immigrants.  These  four  classes  live  within  a  com- 
mon area  but  in  striking  degree  fail  to  use  common 
institutions.  The  lines  connecting  homes  with  church, 
school  and  store  cross  and  recross.  There  is  a  violent 
over-lapping  of  service-areas  among  people  whose  nat- 
ural and  convenient  way  would  be  to  use  common  facili- 
ties. Conditions  are  highly  uncentralized ;  the  investi- 
gator calls  them  "scrambled."  So  effectively  do  they 
disguise  the  fact  that  a  county  consists  of  an  over-lap- 
ping series  of  natural  communities,  that  it  escapes  the 
investigator  altogether.  He  presents  a  plan  for  its 
theoretical  reorganization  of  entirely  artificial  lines. 
Yet  the  county  contains  a  remarkable  centre — a  historic 
Quaker  village  whose  ancient  meeting  house,  school, 
lyceum,  library  and  bank  illustrate  with  absolute  apt- 
ness the  power  and  function  of  the  natural  as  over 
against  the  artificial  centre, — only  in  this  case  the  centre 
functions  for  but  one  social  class.  Beginnings  of  like 
conditions  are  already  multiplying  in  the  Middle-West, 
where  successive  layers  of  foreign  immigration  intro- 
duce race  and  class  distinctions,  and  where  tenancy 
is  increasing.  ''Scrambling"  is  on  the  way  and  needs 
to  be  checked. 

7  A    Rural    Survey    in    Maryland,    Department    of    Churcli   and 
Country  Life,  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions. 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  65 


CAN   THE   TOWN    PERFORM    ITS   TASK   IN   BEHALF   OP 
THE   COUNTRY? 

A  nation  which  is  made  up  on  this  plan  is  certainly 
more  interesting  to  live  in  than  one  which  consists 
of  legally  defined  areas  largely  rectangular,  and  which 
conceives  of  a  given  area  as  either  rural  or  urban.  In 
such  a  nation  the  effort  to  unify  the  divergent  viewpoint 
of  town  and  country  populations,  by  making  them  con- 
scious of  their  common  under-lying  relationships,  rises 
to  the  dignity  of  social  statesmanship  and  religious 
mediation.  It  presents  issues  fitted  to  thrill  prophets 
and  provoke  evangelists.  Yet  no  one  will  go  very  far 
in  trying  to  work  out  the  practical  unification  of  town 
and  country  without  bitter  experiences  which  will  drive 
him  back  into  the  horrors  of  fundamental  doubt.  Can 
the  town  really  serve  the  country  loyally  and  well? 

Doubts:  1.  Can  the  Town  be  Converted?  In  some 
of  the  most  earnest  minds  of  the  nation  fundamental 
doubts  exist  concerning  the  possibility  of  making  the 
town  genuinely  serve  the  country.  The  issue  is  drawn 
in  its  most  practical  form  over  the  use  of  the  town 
school  by  country  children,  as  already  suggested  in  the 
first  chapter.  Many  of  the  most  influential  leaders  of 
the  rural  betterment  movement  express  complete  dis- 
gust with  the  town,  and  hopelessness  for  its  educational 
future  with  respect  to  the  country  child.  They  think 
that  to  send  him  to  the  town  school  means  certainly  to 
alienate  him  from  the  country ;  and  that  consequently 
there  should  be  a  complete  duplicatory  system  of  rural 
high  schools  to  avoid  such  catastrophe. 

How  Good  is  the  Country's  Case?    The  "rurban" 


66  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

viewpoint  will  naturally  raise  the  question  whether  this 
distrust  is  not  essential  distrust  of  the  rural  life  pro- 
gram? So  far  as  the  town  goes,  the  country  child  is 
already  spoiled.  It  is  to  the  town  that  he  looks  for 
most  of  his  ideals.  To  the  town,  as  analysis  shows,  his 
family  goes  for  trade,  for  play  and  for  worship.  Doubt- 
less the  town's  school  needs  conversion  and  redirection. 
It  will  take  a  revolution  to  bring  it  to  the  point  where 
it  genuinely  feels  its  duty  equally  to  the  country  and 
to  the  town  populations.  It  will  take  revised  legisla- 
tion in  most  states  to  enable  the  town  to  include  the 
entire  country  area  which  it  properly  serves,  in  one  high 
school  district.  But  if  the  rural  betterment  gospel  is 
sound  and  convincing,  cannot  the  farmer  be  trusted  to 
see  the  place  of  the  school  in  a  unifying  view  of  town 
and  country  relations?  The  alternative  of  town  or 
country  is  already  acutely  before  his  boy  and  girl.  Will 
not  a  school  which  fairly  sets  before  them  the  possibili- 
ties of  both,  which  concretely  proves  the  undoubted  eco- 
nomic advantages  of  farming,  and  stresses  the  ideals  of 
rural  life,  keep  as  many  of  them  permanently  in  the 
country  as  ought  to  stay?  Will  not  the  deliberate  ef- 
fort to  segregate  rural  education  in  a  corn-field  environ- 
ment, react  against  itself?  Thoroughly  to  convert  the 
town  to  a  fair  and  helpful  emphasis  on  rural  life  will 
not  be  easy.  Fine  and  successful  beginnings,  however — 
like  that  of  the  Clinton  (Iowa)  Commercial  Club — 
have  already  been  made;  and  in  the  end  self-interest 
will  be  seen  to  unite  with  altruism  to  make  general  suc- 
cess inevitable. 

2.  Is  the  Townsman  Worth  his  Price?    The  second 
fundamental  doubt  as  to  the  little  town's  usefulness  con- 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  67 

cerns  the  validity  of  the  retailer's  and  ruiddleraan's 
functions  in  the  social  order.  It  should  be  possible  to 
solve  this  theoretically  by  economic  analysis;  but  only 
concrete  studies  of  the  results  of  co-operation,  and  added 
years  of  business  experience  will  probably  convince  the 
farmer  that  the  townsman  on  the  whole  is  worth  his 
price.  The  fanner's  expert  advisers,  in  the  main,  are 
trying  to  demonstrate  to  him  that  the  middleman  has 
value,  and  the  increasingly  specialized  process  of  scien- 
tific agriculture  are  helping  him  to  an  appreciation  of 
the  expert  in  other  realms.  Doubtless  hundreds  and 
even  thousands  of  little  towns  have  no  economic  justifi- 
cation; but  the  town  type,  in  its  economic  position  be- 
tween city  and  the  farmer,  ought  not  at  this  day  to  be 
brought  into  fundamental  question.^ 

3.  Will  Ideals  Prevail?  The  deepest  doubts  on  any 
problem  are  always  moral  and  spiritual.  They  ask 
whether  man  is  not  essentially  selfish ;  his  terms  of  as- 
sociation dictated  merely  by  economic  necessity  or  by 
profit;  his  assumed  satisfactions  in  ideals  transient  or 
deceptive?  In  this  respect  the  relation  of  the  little 
town  and  the  country  is  like  any  other  fundamental 
human  problem — say  that  of  class  or  race.  Either  the 
better  natures  of  men  will  respond  to  any  vital  vision 
of  true  and  helpful  possibilities,  or  they  will  not.  If 
they  will  all  things  are  possible;  if  not,  nothing  is. 

FORCES   MAKING   FOR  THE  UNIFICATION  OP   TOWN 
AND    COUNTRY 

In  view  of  these  deep  doubts  it  is  well  to  note  some 
of  the  strong  forces  which  work  with  one  who  is  trying 

8  Carver,  "Principles  of  Rural  Economics,"  p.  173. 


68  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

practically  to  unify  the  thought  and  life  of  town  and 
country. 

1.  The  Farmer's  Wider  Outlook.  On  the  farmer's 
side  a  new  type  of  business  experience  has  already  been 
noted.  Co-operative  business  enterprises  undertaken 
by  the  farmer  involve  the  employment  of  agents.  The 
co-operative  creamery  or  elevator  needs  a  manager.  He 
does  not  work  in  the  fields  as  his  farmer  employers  do ; 
but  because  he  is  their  man  by  whose  directing  ability 
they  immediately  profit,  he  is  appreciated;  while  the 
townsman  doing  the  same  service  is  disliked  and  his 
profits  grudgingly  paid.  In  the  more  prosperous  farm- 
ing regions  the  farmer  himself  frequently  invests  in 
town  business.  An  unpublished  study  made  through 
one  of  the  offices  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  concerns  an  Iowa  town  of  nine  hundred 
population  in  which — following  experiments  in  rural  co- 
operation— the  bank  and  leading  store  have  come  to  be 
owned  outright  by  farmers'  stock  companies.  They  have 
no  idea  of  extending  rural  credit,  or  of  catering  to  the 
farmer,  or  of  selling  at  retail  on  a  co-operative  basis. 
They  are  sheer  capitalists  grown  rich  by  farming,  and 
now  seeking  profits  by  old  fashioned  town  methods. 
They  have  learned  and  are  turning  the  townsman 's  trick. 
Specialized  farming  again,  which  required  expert  care 
in  the  handling  of  products,  attractive  methods  of  crat- 
ing or  packing,  and  a  display  element  in  selection,  be- 
gins to  initiate  the  farmer  into  the  art  of  retail  selling, 
and  to  convince  him  that  brains  and  taste  have  market 
value. 

2.  Good  Roads  and  Their  Social  Consequences. 
From  the  side  of  the  townsman  forces  are  multiply- 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  69 

ing  to  heal  the  breach  between  him  and  the  open  coun- 
try. There  are  many  old  ties  which  are  being  strength- 
ened as  new  ones  are  added.  At  worst,  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two  types  of  life  may  easily  be  over-stated. 
The  forms  of  town  life  are  urban,  but  town  character 
was  always  essentially  rural.  IMerchant  and  farmer 
stood  on  opposite  sides  of  the  counter,  but  the  merchant 
has  often  been  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  between  the 
two  men  generally  there  was  no  essential  difference  of 
understanding.  Now  such  barriers  as  have  grown  up 
are  being  removed  by  new  co-operative  activities.  The 
good  roads  movement  typifies  the  moral  and  social  high- 
way which  is  being  smoothed  between  the  town  and  its 
country.  Practical  co-operation  in  road  building  is 
symbolic  of  deep  spiritual  forces.  Thus  the  business 
men  of  DeKalb,  Illinois,  the  other  day  shovelled  gravel 
to  furnish  a  strip  of  country  road;  the  farmers  did  the 
teaming;  the  county  bought  the  gravel.  Thus  the 
"Washington  (Pennsylvania)  Board  of  Trade  has  opened 
a  Community  House  equipped  with  conveniences,  as  a 
place  of  resort  and  rest  for  farmers  who  come  to  town 
to  trade, — in  the  confessed  purpose  of  off-setting  the 
printed  attractions  of  the  mail  order  catalogues.  It  has 
remained  for  an  Indiana  commercial  club  to  guarantee 
a  hundred  patrons  from  its  town  to  any  chicken  supper 
prepared  by  a  country  church  in  its  neighbourhood ! 
Such  episodes  are  frequently  repeated  in  many  sections, 
and  their  combined  significance  is  great. 

3.  Rural  Rapid  Transit.  All  writers  on  country  life 
insert  at  this  point  in  the  discussion  a  rhapsody  upon 
the  automobile.  Given  good  roads,  cheap  fuel  and  the 
gas  engine,  the  distinction  between  town  and  country 


70  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

largely  disappears.  The  farmer  in  his  car  gets  into 
market  quicker  than  the  suburbanite  can  reach  his  city 
office.  Add  to  this,  increasing  prosperity  which  enables 
the  farmer  to  purchase  the  automobile,  and  every  ex- 
ternal difficulty  disappears  which  forbids  him  to  master 
both  modes  of  life.  He  is  no  longer  a  countryman; 
he  is  a  countryman  with  an  automobile — a  very  different 
person — and  the  town  is  as  much  his  as  it  is  the  towns- 
man's. 

4.  Town  Investments  in  the  Country.  Even  the 
much  execrated  absentee  landlord  may  be  a  unifying 
link  between  town  and  country.  The  tenant  has  less 
stake  in  the  welfare  of  the  farm  than  the  owner  has, 
even  if  the  latter  lives  in  town.  The  retired  farmer 
is  frequently  of  no  benefit  to  the  town  because  he  was 
never  of  any  benefit  to  the  country.  He  was  non- 
progressive there,  and  non-progressive  he  remains.  But 
as  townsman  with  a  stake  in  the  country,  he  keeps  the 
roads  open  between  the  two  and  may  be  a  valuable  off- 
set to  the  tendency  of  the  farming  class  to  segregate 
mentally  as  well  as  socially.  Some  of  the  profounder 
lessons  of  agriculture — such  as  the  value  of  permanent 
fertility  above  this  year's  profits — come  more  easily  to 
the  town-dwelling  farm  owner  than  to  the  farmer  actu- 
ally upon  the  soil.  Because  of  his  ability  to  put  in- 
telligent pressure  upon  the  farmer  both  in  the  matter 
of  industry  and  methods,  the  country  banker — or  in 
the  South,  the  merchant  who  gives  the  farmer  credit 
— are  in  position  to  be  of  great  service  as  links  between 
town  and  country.^ 

In  the  case  of  the  banker  a  more  rational  agriculture 

9  Carver,  "Principles  of  Rural  Economics,"  p.  276. 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  71 

is  showing  that  it  is  because  the  farmer  farms  specula- 
tively that  he  is  charged  speculative  rates  of  interest. 
When  he  diversifies  his  crops  and  begins  honest  book- 
keeping with  himself  he  finds  that  there  is  a  reason 
for  the  money  lender's  point  of  view.  Every  intel- 
ligent town  investor  in  farm  lands  supplements  the 
human  forces  which  make  for  mutual  understanding 
and  ultimate  good  will.  The  merchant  is  experiencing 
to  his  sorrow  the  farmer's  newly  discovered  business 
ability  and  effective  plans  for  eliminating  the  retailer 
and  middleman.  Under  this  pressure  he  begins  to  un- 
derstand that  both  parties  to  a  bargain  must  be  satis- 
fied, and  that  he  must  cease  to  be  a  mere  exploiter  of 
the  farmer  for  his  own  profit.  Thus  is  laid  the  eco- 
nomic foundation  which  moral  and  social  enthusiasm 
must  utilize  and  perfect. 

5.  Intensive  Agriculture.  The  reclamation  enthusi- 
ast's glowing  vision  of  irrigated  regions  as  new  Gardens 
of  Eden  is  often  partly  realized  and  largely  solves  the 
antagonism  of  town  and  country  by  identifying  the 
two.  Utterly  dependent  upon  the  collective  control  of 
water,  almost  necessarily  practicing  co-operation  in 
marketing;  specializing  in  production;  living  in  close 
social  contacts,  and  often  in  intelligence  and  luxury, 
on  thirty  or  forty,  and  often  on  even  five-  or  ten-acre 
holdings,  the  irrigation  farmer  has  town  life  in  all 
essentials.^^  Intensive  agriculture  without  irrigation, 
though  not  destined  to  be  general  in  America,  has  some 
of  the  same  possibilities. 

6.  Legislation.    In  the  interest  of  town  and  country 

10  Hess,  "Socio-EcoTiomic  Aspects  of  Irrigation,"  in  "Cyclopedia 
of  American  Agriculture,"  p.  167. 


72  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

unification,  legislation  must  go  much  farther  than  yet 
dreamed,  but  significant  beginnings  have  been  made — 
chiefly  as  yet  in  school  matters — the  details  of  which 
will  appear  in  later  paragraphs.  In  the  long  run,  if 
the  analysis  of  this  chapter  is  correct,  we  must  reach 
an  entirely  new  type  of  local  government  based  upon 
the  natural  and  actual  community  as  over  against  the 
geometrical  and  artificial  one.  The  New  England  town 
has  always  been  such  a  natural  community;  and  ulti- 
mately the  whole  nation  should  have  the  right  to  deter- 
mine by  actual  surveys  the  boundaries  of  its  natural 
communities  and  to  constitute  them  legal  political  units. 

THE   POTENTIAL   MISSIONARY    SPIRIT   OP   THE   LITTLE 

TOWN 

Foreshadowings.  No  general  idealistic  movement  in 
behalf  of  the  little  towns — especially  in  the  light  of 
their  social  solidarity  with  and  potential  leadership  of 
the  open  country — is  yet  to  be  discerned  in  America. 
That  one  is  needed  is  the  essential  plea  of  this  book. 
There  are  to  be  sure  the  well  defined  and  widely  useful 
Village  Improvement  Societies  of  New  England — some 
two  hundred  of  them.  A  multitude  of  experiments  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  show  that  the  newly  acute  social 
spirit  has  invaded  the  little-town  realm  also.  Many 
townsmen  are  becoming  aware  of  the  needs  and  promise 
of  their  immediate  home  fields.  Some  of  these  better- 
ment movements  definitely  seek  to  link  town  and  open 
country.  The  enthusiasm  and  moral  insight  of  the  rural 
life  movement  ought  everywhere  to  be  available  in  this 
behalf,  and  its  recognition  of  the  little  town  as  the 
effective  centre  of  its  operation  is  at  least  fore-shad- 


THE  TOWN'S  COUNTRY  73 

owed."  Yet  nowhere  is  there  anything  like  a  general 
consciousness  of  response  to  the  specific  vision  and  proc- 
ess of  "rurbanism"  as  outlined  above.  The  towns  as 
a  group  are  ignorant  of  their  anointing  for  service 
and  are  as  yet  unbaptizcd  with  the  missionary  spirit. 

Re-kindling  Old  Fires.  Yet  the  town  form  of  civili- 
zation is  peculiarly  susceptible  of  use  by  the  mission- 
ary spirit.  A  striking  group  of  them  were  founded  with 
the  definite  purpose  of  being  centres  of  morality  and 
intelligence  to  the  surrounding  country  and  the  prospec- 
tive commonwealth.  Definite  convictions  tend  to  ex- 
press themselves  in  compact  communities  and  in  the 
town  order  of  life.  In  contrast  with  the  scattering, 
inchoate  life  of  the  frontier,  the  constructive  states- 
manship of  western  settlement  concerned  itself  largely 
with  the  founding  of  towns.  It  was  by  compact  com- 
munities that  Mormonism  conquered  the  desert ;  their 
dominance  from  the  first  over  the  outlying  rural  regions 
has  made  Utah  the  first  state  to  abolish  utterly  the  un- 
graded district  school.  It  was  his  genius  for  founding 
towns  which  made  the  Yankee  the  social  school-master 
of  the  frontier,  often  in  regions  where  the  dominant 
populations  numerically  were  of  other  stocks.  Often  he 
transplanted  towns  bodily,  picking  up  church,  academy 
and  community  organization  and  setting  them  down  with 
undiminished  power  as  evangelizing  centres  in  the  midst 
of  the  prairie.  There  are  such  towns  in  which  the  tra- 
dition of  definite  missionary  vocation  to  the  larger  com- 
munity still  lives.     Certainly  nothing  could  so  lift  the 

n  Bridging  the  Gap  of  Indifference  between  City  and  County — 
pamphlet  of  the  Clinton  (Iowa)  Commercial  Club.  The  Ameri- 
can City,  VIII,  p.  398. 


74  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

entire  group  of  them  out  of  disillusion,  the  sense  of 
failure  and  of  frequent  self-contempt  as  the  clear  per- 
ception that  it  is  largely  the  little  town  which  is  to 
solve  the  rural  problem  of  the  nation. 

Not  Necessary  to  Become  a  Foreign  Missionary.  The 
most  stupendous  moral  loss  to  any  community  is  from 
failure  to  find  scope  within  its  immediate  sphere  for 
the  latent  ideals  of  its  people.  This  cup  the  little  town 
has  drunk  to  the  dregs.  Most  of  its  finer  youth  has 
gone  away — virtually  all  of  them  have  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  go — for  the  realization  of  their  dreams  of  serv- 
ice to  significant  and  heroic  causes.  It  was  the  tears 
of  a  girl  who  wanted  to  be  a  foreign  missionary  and 
could  see  no  outlet  for  her  devotion  in  her  own  little 
town,  which  inspired  one  of  the  most  notably  revolu- 
tionary cases  of  civic  advance  recorded  in  this  book. 
The  town  is  little  in  itself,  but  great  through  its  po- 
tential leadership  and  service  of  the  country.  The  mere 
opening  of  the  mind  to  that  fact  assures  the  flow  of 
mighty  and  regenerating  tides  of  purpose  and  adventure 
through  many  a  stagnant  Littleton. 


IV 

THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE 

CONTRASTING   ENVIRONMENTAL    TYPES 

If  the  heavens  rained  literal  blood  and  the  earth  opened 
once  a  year  to  release  apocalyptic  beasts,  mankind  would 
be  different ;  but  less  so  than  he  has  become  under  the 
steady  pressure  of  the  less  striking  phenomenon  of  home 
surroundintrs  and  conditions  of  labour. 

Effect  of  Isolation.  The  farmer  breakfasts  with  no 
evidence  of  neighbours  but  the  distant  crowing  of  cocks 
and  baying  of  dogs.  His  family'  separates  silently  to  its 
tasks,  themselves  often  remote  from  one  another.  Pos- 
sibly two  men  and  teams  may  be  working  in  the  same 
field,  but  commonly  beyond  the  range  of  conversation. 
For  other  human  society  there  is  just  a  chance  that  the 
neighbouring  farmer  will  be  ploughing  or  cultivating 
across  the  fence,  or  that  one  will  reach  the  end  of  the 
corn  row  at  the  highway  while  a  team  is  passing.  But 
the  day  may  come  and  go — many  days  do — without  essen- 
tial break  in  the  family  isolation  of  the  farm  home  and 
its  labouring  group. 

Effect  of  Congestion.  The  city  tenement  dweller  on 
the  other  hand,  falls  to  sleep  in  an  unnoted  Babel,  and 
rises  to  one.  The  sights,  noises,  smells  and  physical 
pressure  of  thousands  of  fellow  mortals  are  thrust  upon 
the  toughened  senses.     Floor  space  costs  money  and  he 

75 


76  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

may  therefore  work  in  the  reeking  proximity  of  the 
Ghetto  sweatshop.  In  a  cigar  factory  in  Tampa  two 
thousand  operators  of  both  sexes  and  all  races  and  colours 
mingle  indiscriminately,  are  seated  back  to  back,  shoul- 
der to  shoulder  and  knee  to  knee  with  narrow  benches 
between.  What  wonder  that  their  lives  come  to  bear 
the  stamp  of  mass-thinking  as  well  as  mass-action. 

The  Happy  Medium.  The  little  townsman  has  al- 
ready greeted  his  fellow  this  morning  as  he  splits  the 
kindling  or  feeds  his  chickens  in  the  back  yard.  His 
wife  has  called  a  "good  morning"  to  her  neighbour  dur- 
ing domestic  processes,  or  compared  notes  on  infant  dis- 
eases over  the  fence.  As  the  man  starts  "down  town" 
he  is  sure  to  find  and  fall  in  step  with  another  man, 
breathing  friendliness — and  possibly  the  diverse  interests 
of  another  calling.  All  day  the  incidental  contacts  of 
life  continue,  varied  and  shifting.  There  is  leisure  for 
humour,  for  human  intercourse  for  its  own  sake.  The 
rear  of  some  store  becomes  an  informal  club  of  village 
notables.  There  is  pause  in  the  day's  work;  noon,  with 
the  school  children  trooping  home;  the  return  of  the 
business  man  to  dinner ;  the  comings  and  goings  of  women 
to  market  or  club ;  the  daily  exodus  of  half  of  the  inhab- 
itants when  the  train  comes  in;  the  equal  interest  in  the 
base  ball  club ;  the  concourse  of  the  whole  town  at  fight 
or  fire.  This  is  social  richness  and  complexity  as  com- 
pared with  farm  environment;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
an  open  formation  of  life  and  informality  in  contrast 
with  the  city's  regimentation.  These  make  the  little 
townsman  what  he  is,  giving  him  his  well-marked  char- 
acteristics as  the  man  of  the  minor  centre. 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  77 

THE   townsman's   CHARACTERISTICS 

1.  The  Townsman  Walks.  Cataloguing  the  more  ob- 
vious of  these  eharaeteristies, — those  directly  due  to  pecu- 
liar town  environment, — the  first  fact  to  demand  notice 
is  that  walking  distance  constitutes  the  limit  of  neigh- 
bourhood in  the  little  town,  just  as  team-haul  distance 
does  in  the  open  country  and  rapid  transit  facilities  do  in 
the  city.  Tliis  is  curiously  affirmed  by  the  social  isola- 
tion of  people  living  just  between  walking  and  driving 
distance.  The  characteristic  "black  belt,"  described  in 
the  third  chapter,  is  a  strip  around  the  town  beginning 
one  or  two  miles  from  the  centre.  Only  the  energetic 
will  walk  so  far  to  enjoy  full  social  relationship  as  offered 
by  the  town,  yet  hitching  up  a  horse  to  go  .so  short  a 
distance  hardly  seems  reasonable.  The  consequence  is 
that  just  beyond  easy  walking  distance  there  lies  a  Rob- 
inson Crusoe  type  of  life.  The  most  crucial  question  of 
location  for  every  little-town  home  is,  "How  far  is  it  to 
the  centre?"  "When  the  pressure  of  population  forces 
town  limits  beyond  walking  distance  the  street  car  comes 
and  the  little  town  ceases  to  be  little. 

2.  The  People  of  the  Little  Town  Work  Indoors. 
Labour  is  not  in  first  hand  contact  with  nature.  As 
protected  from  weather  its  conditions  are  more  controlled 
and  regular  than  those  of  the  country.  Work  is  not 
done  seasonally,  nor  daily  from  sun  to  sun,  "With  arti- 
ficial light  men  not  only  choose  their  hours,  but  contrive 
to  have  shorter  hours  for  labour.  In  the  little  town  most 
of  them  do  not  work  at  manual  labour.  ' '  Seed  time  and 
harvest,  summer  and  winter,  cold  and  heat,"  hardening 
the  hands  and  forcing  a  daily  response  from  the  linea- 


78  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ments  of  the  human  face  have  not  wrought  their  corre- 
sponding deep  impress  upon  character  as  they  have  in 
the  farmer's  case.  Yet  the  challenge  of  nature  is  not 
entirely  absent  from  the  little  townsman 's  life.  He  must 
shovel  his  own  snow  before  he  can  go  to  work  in  winter, 
and  there  is  no  public  vehicle  to  carry  him  about  in  case 
of  cold  or  heat.  He  escapes  nature  less  than  the  city 
man  does,  though  far  more  than  the  farmer. 

3.  The  Little  Townsman's  Life  is  Bi-focal.  It  has 
two  centres, — home  and  ' '  down  town ' ' — the  latter  mean- 
ing shop,  store  or  office.  The  farm  has  but  one  centre, 
the  home.  The  work  of  the  surrounding  open  fields  can- 
not be  centralized  but  must  be  followed  from  place  to 
place.  But  analyse  the  consciousness  of  any  member  of 
the  little-town  group  and  one  finds  ' '  down  town ' '  deeply 
written  within.  The  merchant  shuttles  between  his  two 
centres  of  life  twice  or  three  times  daily.  The  woman  of 
any  freedom  or  energy  gets  "down  town"  several  times 
a  week  at  least,  and  thus  keeps  in  touch  with  her  other 
world.  The  child  comes  home  from  school  via  "down 
town"  if  he  dares.  No  other  type  of  existence  revolves 
so  completely  about  two  familiar  and  definite  centres. 
The  devoted  monotony  of  it  bores  the  city  man  inexpress- 
ibly. "Main-Street  and  home-again"  is  almost  a  com- 
plete formula  for  the  little  town. 

4.  Some  Variety  of  Occupation.  There  is  no  such 
solidarity  of  the  family  group  in  labour  in  the  little 
town  as  on  the  farm.  Members  of  one  family  may  have 
different  jobs,  different  sources  of  income.  In  the  rural 
home  all  work,  practising  the  minor  divisions  of  agri- 
cultural labour,  the  lighter  tasks  falling  to  women  and 
children;  but  much  of  farm  work  is  relatively  inter- 


HOME  AXD  "down   town" — POOR  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PUBLIC  UTTLITIES 


The  town  "has"  electric  lights  and  sewers  but  the  majority  of  its 
homes  are  not  connected 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  79 

changeable,  and  at  a  pinch  all  pitch  in  at  any  task.  The 
townsman's  wife  may  rarely  stand  behind  his  counter 
(usually  her  place  is  home),  but  his  son  or  daughter 
may  often  find  livelihood  in  work  different  from  their 
father's. 

5.  Woman's  Widening  Sphere.  The  most  significant 
aspect  of  this  change  is  tliat  which  relates  to  woman 
and  her  outlook.  The  little  town's  version  of  woman's 
employment  outside  the  home  is  narrow  compared  with 
the  city's.  It  affords  her  quite  enough,  however,  to 
cause  radical  differences  of  thought  and  feeling  and  to 
initiate  many  new  attitudes.  To  become  clerk,  stenog- 
rapher or  telephone  operator  is  the  potential  resource 
of  any  unmarried  woman  who  does  not  relish  the  do- 
mestic round  or  who  seeks  economic  independence, 
Belleville's  fourteen  per  cent,  of  gainfully  employed 
women  are  quite  enough  to  introduce  a  mild  version  of 
feraininism. 

6.  Beginning-  of  Public  Utilities.     The  town  home  has 
surrendered  many  of  its  economic  functions  to  the  com- 
munity.    Particularly  many  of  its  "chores"  are  done 
collectively.     The  townsman  does  not  carry  his  lantern ; 
his  streets  are  electric-lighted.     He  no  longer  "totes" 
water;  it  runs  from  the  hydrant.     Wliether  purchased 
over  the  counter  or  ordered  by  telephone,  his  groceries 
come  to  the  door  in  the  delivery  wagon.     The  disposal 
of  garbage  and  sewage  are  yet  in  debate  as  between  town 
and  home ;  these  functions  may  or  may  not  have  become 
municipalized.     On  the  woman's  part,  the  electric  light- 
ing of  the  home  dispenses  with  the  disagreeable  burden 
and  danger  of  kerosene  lamps.     The  steam  laundn'  re- 
lieves the  wash  tub  and  the  bakery  and  kitchen  range. 


80  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

These  tend  to  offset  the  fact  that  the  little  town  can 
neither  afford  nor  secure  household  service,  and  that 
members  of  the  family  must  do  most  of  the  domestic 
labour.  The  home  still  carries  fuel  for  thousands  of 
stoves  and  goes  to  the  post  office  for  its  own  mail.  From 
the  farmer's  standpoint,  however,  an  enormous  amount 
of  labour  has  passed  from  the  home  to  the  shoulders 
of  the  community  collectively. 

7.  Frequent  Community  Enterprises.  The  little 
town's  people  are  accustomed  to  collective  action  in  the 
common  interest.  In  most  directions  this  is  the  poten- 
tial capacity  rather  than  one  continuously  exercised.  In 
the  mercantile  sense,  however,  there  is  a  fairly  steady 
exercise  of  town  enterprise,  particularly  in  the  interest 
of  nearby  trade.  Most  of  the  time  it  is  inefficiently  ex- 
pressed, and  is  often  fitful  in  the  extreme;  but  a  new 
plan  of  advertising,  a  fair,  a  subsidy  for  a  new  factory 
or  the  erection  of  a  new  church  or  public  building,  finds 
characteristic  response  in  the  business  community  of  the 
little  town.  Voluntary  initiative  takes  care  of  such  mat- 
ters most  of  the  time.  Often  there  is  little  organization 
or  acknowledged  leadership  within  the  commercial  group. 
The  same  interests  support  a  base  ball  team  as  a  means 
of  advertisement  and  of  relaxation.  This  is  little 
enough ;  yet  co-operation  in  the  furtherance  of  community 
purposes  occurs  fifty  times  among  townsmen  to  once 
among  farmers;  and  this  co-operation  is  far  more  im- 
mediate and  personal  than  are  the  more  systematized 
and  regular  communal  forces  of  the  city. 

8.  Variety  with  Democracy.  The  little  town's  people 
have  the  flavour  of  occupational  variety  in  their  habitual 
contacts,  especially  through  the  familiar  presence  of  the 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  81 

professional  classes.  No  other  community  enjoys  such 
close  daily  fellowship  with  men  of  so  wide  a  range  of 
vocation  or  calling.  The  former's  typical  day  includes 
no  man  who  is  not  a  farmer.  The  minister's  or  doctor's 
visit  to  him  is  an  event ;  the  visit  to  a  lawyer  a  catastro- 
phe. Contracts  with  the  professional  classes  are  equally 
absent  from  the  city  artisan's  daily  experience.  They 
are  available  within  the  prosperous  city  circles  through 
the  church  and  social  intercourse,  yet  limited  and  hedged 
about  by  distinctions  of  wealth  and  class.  In  the  little 
town,  on  the  other  hand,  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men 
are  known  intimately  and  familiarly.  Wealth  and  pov- 
erty are  near  enough  together  to  call  one  another  by  their 
first  names.  This  adds  range  to  the  average  human 
experience. 

9.  Recreation  Institutionalized.  The  little  town  pos- 
sesses the  specialized  institutions  of  play  as  well  as  of 
work,  and  worship ; — witness  the  statistical  record  of 
Belleville's  recreation  in  the  first  chapter.  Only  the 
city,  of  course,  gives  to  play  equal  dignity  with  or  superi- 
ority over  the  sober  aspects  of  life.  The  farm  allows  it 
nothing  but  incidental  and  grudging  expression.  While 
it  remains  puritanical  compared  with  the  city,  the  little 
town  directl}'  institutionalizes  play,  daring  to  call  its 
barren  public  hall  an  opera  house  and  regularly  sup- 
porting a  moving  picture  place.  The  lyceum  courses  or 
Chautauqua,  in  which  recreation  is  given  respectability 
under  the  mantle  of  ''improvement,"  find  their  special 
field  here.  Moral  heart-searchings  in  matters  of  social 
amusement  characterize  such  communities :  their  inde- 
cisive attitude  toward  the  whole  realm  of  recreation  cre- 
ates many  of  the  most  difficult  issues  of  little-town  life. 


82  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

In  this,  as  in  all  the  characteristics  so  far  catalogued, 
the  little  town  occupies  a  definitely  intermediate  posi- 
tion, though  one  balancing  toward  the  urban  side.  On 
the  whole  it  is  more  like  the  city  than  like  the  country  in 
the  external  forms  of  its  life.  So  far,  then,  as  the  aver- 
age little  townsman  is  able  to  understand  himself,  his 
sense  that  his  life  is  a  miniature  edition  of  the  city  is 
natural  and  indeed  inevitable. 

VARIATIONS   WITHIN    LITTLE-TOWN   POPULATION 

Of  course  the  people  of  the  little  town  are  not  entirely 
homogeneous  in  character.  There  are  minor  differences 
of  elemental  human  stuff.  Its  diverse  elements  yield  in 
differing  ways  and  degrees  to  environmental  pressure. 
As  a  whole,  the  townspeople  show  a  residual  rural  in- 
heritance incompletely  conquered  by  an  environment 
tending  to  urban  forms.  Together  they  constitute  a 
mediating  type — and  will  continue  to  do  so. 

The  Townsman  Born.  Naturally  the  most  perfect 
expression  of  his  type  is  the  native  son  of  the  little  town. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Americans  live  and  die  know- 
ing no  other  environment.  When  they  move  about  it  is 
within  their  native  stratum  of  population.  They  are 
keenly  sensitive  to  their  difference  from  the  farmer ;  yet 
the  equilibrium  of  rural  life  is  simply  disturbed  in  them ; 
they  have  never  really  acquired  urban  traits.  No  radical 
readjustment  of  capacity  and  temper  has  been  effected. 
The  unmarried  woman,  for  example,  has  no  such  recog- 
nized, assured  and  permanent  place  in  the  social  and 
economic  order  as  the  city  gives  her.  There  is  scant 
provision  for  the  permanently  unmarried  man.  Con- 
trast  the    little-town   boarding   house    with   the   urban 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  83 

bachelor's  club!  Yet  in  the  little-townsman  a  relatively 
stable  type  is  presented.  While  under  American  condi- 
tions all  types  are  fluid,  this  one  is  as  specific  and  per- 
manent as  any  other. 

The  Accidental  TowDsman.  The  ruralist  is  espe- 
cially represented  by  the  retired  farmer/  and  by  other 
recruits  from  the  open  country.  Often  he  constitutes 
a  majority  of  the  population  in  ^Middle-Western  town- 
communities.  Although  he  has  come  to  town  all  his  life 
for  trade  and  worship,  he  finds  living  in  town  an  entirely 
different  matter.  His  natural  reaction  is  toward  the 
ways  of  the  open  country.  He  insist.^  on  keeping  pigs 
and  poultry.  Psychologically  speaking,  his  mind  is  more 
traditional  than  that  of  the  native  townsman,  and  when 
he  retires  to  town  it  is  with  habits  hardened  to  adamant. 
Taxes  for  public  purposes  outrage  him,  and  to  pay  cash 
for  food  is  a  night-mare.  Along  with  younger  genera- 
tions escaped  from  the  country,  in  the  persons  of  farm 
boys  and  girls  who  enter  town  life  through  matrimony 
or  business,  he  constitutes  a  most  serious  problem  for  the 
little  town's  digestive  capacities.  As  already  suggested, 
this  invasion  of  the  town  by  country  people  ought  to  be 
utilized  for  the  unification  of  the  two  halves  of  the 
natural  community.  At  present  it  often  operates  to  their 
further  estrangement. 

The  Town's  Professional  Leadership.  Frequently  it 
is  city-bred  or  at  least  city-trained.  Naturally  it  pulls 
in  the  opposite  direction  from  the  farmer's,  and  it  is 
responsible  for  much  of  the  town's  aping  of  the  city — so 
characteristic  and  unfortunate.  The  doctor,  la\\-\'er, 
teacher,  librarian  and  minister  get  their  clues  to  life  and 

1  See  Vogt,  "Rural  Sociology,"  p.  410. 


84  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

their  interpretation  of  success  from  their  wider  oppor- 
tunities of  education  and  travel.  Who  that  has  ever 
served  a  little  town  in  any  of  these  capacities  can  escape 
the  charge  of  having  misled  the  community  in  some  at 
least  of  its  more  general  ambitions  and  ideals  ?  The  am- 
bitious professional  man  uses  the  little  town,  as  he  does 
the  country,  as  a  stepping  stone  to  higher  things,  mean- 
while infusing  his  own  spirit  of  impermanence  and  un- 
rest into  the  younger  generation.  Since  the  city-trained 
leadership  represents  the  innovating  spirit  in  the  little 
town,  it  constitutes  an  especially  subtle  appeal  to  youth. 
Youth  is  for  innovation  as  against  old  ways.  It  is  not 
necessary,  however,  that  the  innovators  speak  for  the  city. 
Let  the  rural  movement  become  eager  and  confident,  let 
it  show  energy  and  initiative,  and  it  will  get  the  boys 
and  girls  as  surely  as  the  city  does.  It  is  the  direction 
rather  than  the  fact  of  leadership  which  is  at  fault.  The 
professional  classes  need  most  of  all  to  have  the  astig- 
matism of  their  wider  opportunities  corrected  and  to 
catch  the  vision  of  the  town 's  own  possibilities  and  of  its 
splendid  outreach  into  the  open  country. 

The  Town  and  the  Foreigiier.  Alien  groups  imposed 
upon  the  little  town  are  left  largely  undigested  by  the 
social  order.  The  occasional  family  of  another  nation- 
ality or  race  is  indeed  taken  in  without  great  embarrass- 
ment to  most  of  the  privileges  of  the  community;  but 
let  any  considerable  number  of  such  people  present  them- 
selves and  they  are  quickly  formed  into  an  almost  im- 
penetrable clan  on  the  town 's  outskirts.  In  spite  of  their 
small  numbers,  the  process  of  their  assimilation  is  rela- 
tively slower  than  in  the  city.  The  world  war  has  shown 
that   some   of   the   most   un-American   communities   in 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  85 

America  are  small  towns  in  the  Middle-West.  There  is 
not  that  keen  sense  of  life-and-death  struggle  either  to 
assimilate  or  to  be  submerged  by  the  alien  mass,  which 
the  city  knows  so  well.  Hence  the  town's  assimilating 
processes  are  feeble  and  unsteady.  Under  the  stimulus 
of  the  frontier,  where  all  comers  start  life  in  essential 
equality,  the  alien  of  nearer  lineage,  like  the  Scandina- 
vian in  the  Northwest,  assimilates  in  a  generation.  Even 
under  these  favouring  circumstances  the  Slav  may  remain 
alien  indefinitely.  Old  towns  especially  prove  utterly  in- 
adequate to  the  task  of  making  over  into  their  own  like- 
ness any  new  group  entrenched  in  a  mass-life  of  alien 
sort.  As  a  class  also,  the  little  town  strangely  fails  to 
achieve  the  higher  and  more  spiritual  unity  of  the  city. 
In  spite  of  its  seething  differences  of  population,  a  city 
somehow  manages  to  get  itself  a  collective  character  and 
to  make  a  forceful  individual  impression.  One  can  al- 
ways tell  pretty  definitely  what  a  given  city  is  like.  The 
little  town  frequently  remains  an  indistinguishable 
member  of  an  undistinguished  class. 

FORTUNES  OP   AGE AND    STATUS   GROUPS    WITHIN    THE 

POPULATION 

The  unique  and  intermediate  character  of  the  little 
town  is  further  evidenced  by  its  utilization  or  failure  to 
utilize  its  people  according  to  their  age  and  status. 
Omitting  fractions,  thirty-one  per  cent,  of  the  American 
population  are  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age. 
About  nineteen  per  cent,  are  adolescents.  Forty-three 
per  cent,  are  in  the  years  of  maturity  and  only  about 
four  per  cent,  are  classified  as  old.  About  fifty-five  per 
cent,  of  marriageable  men  are  married,  and  fifty-eight 


86  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

of  marriageable  women.  It  will  be  interesting  to  note 
how  the  little  town  treats  each  of  the  classes  here  dis- 
tinguished. 

Childhood.  The  fortunes  of  childhood  reflect  the 
intermediate  nature  of  the  little  town's  whole  situation. 
There  are  no  such  extensive  "chores"  on  the  one  hand 
as  furnish  significant  and  appropriate  labour  to  the  farm 
boy  and  girl;  and  on  the  other  hand,  no  massed  and 
systematized  child-labour  such  as  the  city  imposes  upon 
immature  life.  The  little  town  has  a  bad  reputation  as 
a  place  to  bring  up  children.  The  chief  vocational  im- 
pulse which  their  environment  brings  is  one  of  drifting 
and  delaying  decision  as  to  life  work.  This  is  in  sharp 
contrast  with  economic  seriousness  which  the  average 
country  or  city  child  alike  draws  from  its  earliest  breath. 

The  little  town  cannot  furnish  normal  oppor- 
tunities of  work  to  its  children.  Play  taken  seriously — 
which  means  educative  play,  supervised  and  adequately 
paid  for — is  a  partial  solution,  though  one  very  rarely 
furnished  by  the  little  town.  But  nothing  can  supply 
its  lack  of  serious  vocational  atmosphere  as  it  affects 
childhood. 

Youth.  For  youth  the  little  town  furnishes  a  few 
economic  opportunities,  but  too  few,  and  too  poorly  paid. 
In  spite  of  the  unusual  advantage  of  having  railroad 
shops,  Belleville  paid  more  than  seventy  per  cent,  of  the 
unmarried  men  less  than  $12.00  per  week.  Indeed  there 
are  not  enough  jobs  in  all  the  little  towns  put  together 
to  utilize  their  adolescent  vigour.  The  farm  boy  may 
have  to  go  elsewhere  to  farm,  but  the  farm  has  work  for 
him  somewhere — in  Canada  if  not  at  home.  Not  so  the 
little  town  with  respect  to  its  sons.     They  are  forced  to 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  87 

go  to  another  kind  of  place  to  find  opportunity.  For 
this  reason  it  is  utter  folly  to  try  to  segregate  them  with 
the  farm  population,  which  is  already  relatively  heavy 
enough.  The  little  town  can  out-breed  its  opportunities, 
and  the  city  must  take  its  surplus.  The  educational 
viewpoint  of  the  little  town  must  therefore  be  broad 
enough  to  include  both  urban  and  rural  prospects.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  lack  of  immediate  summons  or  allure- 
ment keeps  the  average  youth  of  the  little  town  longer 
in  school  than  under  any  other  American  environment. 
This  is  great  gain  and  permits  the  little  town  to  furnish, 
as  it  always  has  done,  a  disproportionate  number  of  the 
nation's  professional  leaders.  The  prospect  of  staying 
through  high  school  and  going  to  college  is  far  more 
general  here  than  for  young  people  of  any  other  circum- 
stances or  class.  In  spite  of  its  narrow  resources,  Belle- 
ville sent  half  its  high  school  graduates  to  higher  insti- 
tutions. 

Detached  Womanhood.  Her  fortunes  have  already 
been  referred  to.  The  little  town  makes  a  beginning  in 
giving  opportunity  outside  of  the  home;  but  woman's 
utilization  is  very  incomplete.  There  are  few  jobs  and 
a  surplus  of  unmarried  women.  The  town's  boys,  whose 
larger  freedom  of  movement  takes  them  more  numerously 
to  the  city,  do  much  of  their  mating  there.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  conditions  of  town  economy  do  not 
compel  universal  matrimony  which  is  a  fundamental 
condition  of  rural  life.  Neither  bachelor  nor  unmarried 
woman  can  exist  long  in  the  open  country.  Conse- 
quently, as  another  evidence  of  its  betwixt-and-between 
character,  the  little  town  harbours  more  than  its  share  of 
"old  maids."     For  this  reason  no  other  type  of  commun- 


88  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ity  can  command  so  large  a  voluntary  force  for  its  ideal- 
istic purposes.  Church,  women's  clubs  and  all  pursuits 
of  ideals  find  an  army  of  women  with  some  measure 
of  leisure  and  desire  to  be  useful,  ready  to  be  mobilized 
for  service.  This  constitutes  one  of  the  choicest  assets  of 
the  little  town  in  solving  its  immediate  problems.  Here 
is  the  most  plentiful  and  unhurried  supply  of  workers — 
if  not  the  most  competent — for  every  good  work. 

Old  Age.  And  what  of  age?  The  little  town  is  its 
paradise;  but  to  confess  this  is  hard  on  the  little  town. 
Here  the  scale  of  life  is  reduced  to  suit  the  waning 
powers.  The  home  is  near  enough  to  the  centre  for 
even  the  feeble  to  walk.  There  are  just  enough  ' '  chores, ' ' 
enough  ground  for  a  little  garden,  a  scheme  of  life  just 
right  for  the  aged.  Society  is  simple  and  leisurely 
enough  to  appreciate  old  people,  personal  enough  to 
love  and  cherish  them.  The  hoary  head  is  conspicuous 
in  town  assemblies  as  it  is  conspicuous  for  absence  in 
the  city. 

FORTUNES   OP   INSTITUTIONS 

Combining  now  the  total  characteristics  of  the  little 
town  population  and  of  its  sub-groups,  as  they  unite  to 
effect  institutions,  one  finds  that  institutions  are  gen- 
erally under-valued  and  that  their  operation  is  neither 
prompt  nor  efficient.  No  institutional  stitch  is  in  time. 
Evils  crowd  on  to  be  cured  when  they  ought  to  be  pre- 
vented through  the  positive  functioning  of  social  proc- 
esses. 

Institutions  Incomplete  in  Scope.  Thus,  economic 
institutions  seldom  cover  the  entire  area  of  the  town. 
It  is  said  to  "have"  water  works  and  a  sewer  system, 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  89 

but  half  the  people  are  not  using  these  agents  of  col- 
lective life.  None  of  the  outlying  families  except  the 
wealthy  are  roaclied.  Electric  lights  cost  too  much,  both 
in  initial  installation  and  monthly  charges.  Many  a 
little  town  which  counts  itself  very  up  to  date  would  be 
appalled  by  an  actual  survey  of  these  points.  This  gen- 
eralization holds  for  every  section  of  the  nation  without 
exception. 

Institutions  Inefficient  in  Operation.  When  public 
facilities  are  provided  they  are  inefficiently  operated  and 
poorly  kept  up.  Nobody  is  well  served  by  them.  Elec- 
tric lights  have  a  habit  of  going  out;  the  water  supply 
fails ;  the  sidewalks  are  in  bad  condition  ;  years  pass  with- 
out the  overhauling  of  plant.  IMoney  is  not  put  aside 
annually  to  cover  depreciation ;  there  are  no  standards 
of  efficiency  reflecting  a  keen  sense  of  the  vital  depen- 
dence of  the  closely  settled  community  upon  these  agents 
of  collective  life.  The  city  must  keep  up  its  utilities  or 
perish.  The  town  is  content  to  fall  back  periodically 
upon  the  cistern  and  kerosene  lamp. 

Institutions  Inadequate  in  Social  Strength.  Social 
organization  in  the  little  town  fails  to  utilize  the  indi- 
vidual whom  town  economy  has  freed  from  family  soli- 
darity. There  is  more  change  in  human  character  than 
is  registered  in  institutions,  albeit  that  institutions  are 
numerous  enough  and  that  the  little  townsman  is  the 
champion  "jiner"  of  America.  What  he  has,  however, 
is  multiplicity  of  organization  rather  than  aptness  and 
adaptation.  His  institutions  simply  repeat  old  patterns. 
Exceptional  individuals  and  partly  differentiated 
groups,  whether  above  or  below  the  town's  average,  do 
not  find  vital  expression  through  them. 


90  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Failure  of  Institutions  with  Respect  to  Social  Classes. 
Wealth,  nationality  and  social  history  frequently  divide 
the  little  town  sharply ;  yet  it  does  not  organize  its  social 
classes  effectively  when  it  has  them.  Thus  industry, 
even  on  the  little-town  scale,  often  separates  its  oper- 
atives into  an  alien  group  on  the  physical  outskirts  of  the 
community  and  beyond  the  pale  of  social  privilege.  The 
first  resource  of  democracy  faced  by  class  distinction  is  to 
raise  class  consciousness  to  a  higher  pitch ;  to  give  each 
group  of  people  class  organs  and  institutions;  to  evoke 
group-purpose  and  to  make  it  capable  of  group-action. 
Through  these  processes  each  class  is  able  to  make  space 
in  which  to  grow  and  find  chance  of  development,  parallel 
at  least,  with  that  of  the  more  favoured  groups.  In  the 
largest  cities,  even  the  newest  comer  falls  into  a  large 
use  of  common  institutions.  There  come  to  be  more  and 
more  equal  contacts  between  leaders.  Finally  through 
the  steady  pull  of  assimilative  forces,  all  groups  achieve 
large  participation  in  the  fundamentals  of  civilization. 
In  the  little  town,  on  the  contrary,  the  classes  who  are 
not  in  possession  of  the  social  machinery  remain  voiceless, 
their  masses  inchoate,  their  conditions  unprogressive,  un- 
perfected.  They  are  soon  thought  of  as  degenerate  and 
come  actually  to  be  so  through  physical  and  mental  in- 
breeding. Compare  the  hopeless  aspect  of  the  Negro 
group  within  the  small  town  anywhere  with  the  progress 
which  it  frequently  shows  in  the  open  country  and  large 
city. 

Failure  of  Institutions  with  Respect  to  Social  Inter- 
ests. The  fitful  and  occasional  character  which  has  al- 
ready been  discovered  in  the  business  enterprise  of  the 


SOCIAL     SEGREGATION    OF     IXDfSTKIAL    I'UPl  l.A TlUNb     WITHIN     i^M-U-L 

COMMUNITIES 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  91 

small  town,  exhibits  itself  in  other  spheres.  Nowhere 
are  fundamental  instincts  steadily  served.  Social  inter- 
ests, as  expressed  in  entertainments  and  diversions,  flare 
up  and  flicker.  Their  flres  burn  under  forced  draught 
for  awhile,  then  die  down  altogether.  In  its  "speedy" 
moments  the  little  town  goes  faster  than  the  city  itself. 
Then  a  social  languor  seizes  it  and  dulness  reigns  su- 
preme. Religious  and  civic  interests  follow  the  same 
law.     The  formula  of  life  is  revival  and  back-sliding. 

The  Fortunes  of  the  Professional  Classes.  In  com- 
mon with  the  institutions  which  they  serve,  the  profes- 
sional classes  experience  spasmodic  treatment  from  the 
little  town.  They  are  personally  regarded  but  func- 
tionally under-rated.  People  know  them  too  well  as  in- 
dividuals. It  is  impossible  to  keep  up  professional 
"bluff."  Their  appreciation  varies  as  the  whims  of  in- 
dividuals and  communities.  Their  failures  are  known 
to  everybody.  The  city  surgeon  can  hide  his  unsuccess- 
ful operations.  The  city  pastor  has  a  longer  tenure  than 
a  minister  of  the  small  town,  largely  because  the  people 
are  too  busy  to  elaborate  upon  his  weaknesses;  also  be- 
cause they  are  too  much  interested  otherwise  to  make 
his  capacity  to  amuse  or  inspire  of  large  personal  con- 
sequence. Little  townspeople  become  rapidly  partisan 
over  their  leaders  and  the  causes  they  represent, — their 
denominationalism,  their  politics,  their  commercial  rival- 
ries. In  the  city  all  the  functions  of  life  are  performed 
steadily  and  in  large  measure,  anonymously,  their  rea- 
sonable average  of  success  or  failure  being  assumed  with- 
out bitterness  and  without  special  pity  or  affection.  In 
capacity  for  love  and  hate  Littleton  has  no  equal. 


92  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 


THE    ASCENDANCY    OF    THE    PERSONAL    OVER    THE    SOCIAL 

All  told,  there  is  more  human  nature  to  the  square  mile 
in  the  little  town  than  anywhere  else  in  America.  Every- 
where in  it  the  personal  overshadows  the  social.  In- 
stincts and  passions  dominate.  Social  forces  and  insti- 
tutions are  not  yet  strong  enough  completely  to  civilize 
or  socialize  the  little  townsman.  They  have  not  had  him 
away  from  the  country  long  enough  nor  have  they  had 
urban  opportunity  to  work  their  work  upon  him.  Cer- 
tain infelicities  of  town  life  grow  out  of  this  situation; 
it  explains,  on  the  other  hand,  some  of  its  major  ad- 
vantages. 

Exaggeration  of  Personality.  The  little  town  toler- 
ates all  manner  of  cranks  and  eccentrics.  The  social 
rebel  is  not  overborne  but  amiably  allowed  for  and  cher- 
ished. Types  whom  the  city  would  immediately  banish 
to  asylum  and  penitentiary  are  permitted  to  flourish. 
Individual  vagaries  break  up  town  monotony  and  have 
large  market  value.  The  fool  is  a  town  institution.  It 
could  not  get  along  without  him. 

Too  Much  Human  Nature.  The  accumulation,  con- 
centration and  inbreeding  of  human  cross-purposes  in 
the  little  town  result  in  a  moral  situation  for  which 
"petty  cussedness"  and  ''cussed  pettiness"  is  the  only 
adequate  formula.  "Within  a  deadening  traditionalism 
the  little  round  of  life  goes  on,  obscured  and  misshapen 
by  personal  humours  and  passions.  There  is  too  much 
human  nature  and  too  little  escape  for  it  into  the  larger 
and  more  ennobling  avenues  of  human  endeavour. 

Superficial  Interpretation  of  Personality.  With  all 
the  town 's  large  allowance  for  the  personal  so  long  as  its 


TPIE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  93 

vagaries  keep  within  the  established  social  tradition,  there 
is  little  patience  for  it  when  it  wanders  in  untried  ways. 
In  the  city,  it  is  a  normal  attitude  to  regard  life  as  a 
venture  in  which  stakes  should  be  offered  and  risked. 
The  reality  and  solemnity  of  personal  responsibility  for 
novel  decisions  is  well  recognized.  The  little  town  will 
have  none  of  this.  The  serious  issues  of  life  are  not  to 
be  questioned.  The  individual  may  be  eccentric  and  per- 
verse, but  he  must  not  make  novel  choices  nor  depart 
essentially  from  the  ways  of  the  fathers.  Society  is  es- 
sentially unadventurous  and  non-initiating.  Personality 
in  its  profoundest  aspects  is  not  respected. 

THE    ABIDING    ADVANTAGES    OF    LITTLE-TOWN    LIFE 

Desirability  of  Life  Freighted  with  Personal  Signifi- 
cance. Of  native  ability — apart  from  occasional  degen- 
erate strands  in  its  texture, — the  little  town  undoubtedly 
affords  a  first-rate  human  average.  A  majority  of  the 
people  who  live  in  such  towns,  live  there  because  they 
belong  there,  because  they  instinctively  prefer  the  pace 
and  manner  of  its  life.  They  are  not  less  intelligent  or 
able  than  others,  but  they  enjoy  life  in  moderation  and 
detail.  They  like  to  take  its  one-thing-after-another 
without  haste  or  abstraction.  They  may  put  greater 
curiosity  and  intellectual  earnestness  into  the  study  of 
existence  on  a  smaller  scale  than  the  masses  of  either 
country  or  city  bring  to  their  environments.  ^luch  of  a 
fundamental  sort  is  to  be  said  in  favour  of  the  life  which 
is  most  freighted  with  personal  significance.  In  this 
respect  the  little  town  has  clear  advantage.  The  city 
man  must  forever  run  here  and  there  to  find  his  satis- 
faction.    The  little  townsman  is  more  of  a  philosopher 


94  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

and  discovers  more  of  the  meaning  of  life  within;  yet 
without  the  numbing  isolation  of  all  more  remote  rural 
life. 

The  Chance  of  the  Average  Man.  Still  farther  on  the 
credit  side :  the  little  town  affords  to  the  average  man  an 
unusual  opportunity  for  leadership.  Being  an  average 
man,  he  could  not  hope  to  move  the  city  or  the  nation. 
The  little  town,  however,  reduces  the  demand  for  active 
life  to  the  scale  of  the  average  man's  mature  capacities 
just  as  its  less  exacting  demands  fit  in  with  the  limited 
powers  of  the  aged.  Real  leadership  is  just  as  necessary 
in  the  small  as  in  the  larger.  In  limited  but  fruitful 
fields,  such  as  the  little  town  presents,  daring,  patience, 
tact  and  loyalty  in  moderate  degrees  yield  more  than 
average  rewards  and  may  even  hope  for  conspicuous 
successes. 

Mediation  a  Great  Human  Office.  Finally,  just  such 
a  character  as  has  been  described  is  needed  to  serve  as 
mental  middle-man  between  the  city  and  the  open  coun- 
try. The  little  townsman  is  not  so  unsocialized  as  to 
feel  fundamentally  at  outs  with  the  city  environment. 
He  is  aware  of  his  temporary  disadvantage  with  respect 
to  it,  yet  confident  of  his  ability  to  learn  promptly  and  to 
use  whatever  the  city  has  to  offer.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  is  not  too  socialized  in  his  inner  character  to  serve 
the  man  of  radical  isolation.  He  is  near  enough  to  the 
farmer  to  understand  him.  Thus  he  may  be  and  is  use- 
ful in  both  directions.  He  has  a  definite  affinity  for  both 
types  and  his  character  is  complementary  to  each. 

The  Little  Happinesses.  With  respect  to  the  city  the 
little  townsman  must  doubtless  remain  a  follower.  He 
cannot  reach  heights  gained  only  by  complete  concentra- 


THE  TOWN'S  PEOPLE  95 

tion  and  specialization.  lie  must  give  himself  personally 
to  the  whole  detail  of  business  or  profession.  The  great 
captain  of  industry,  student  or  artist,  delegates  this 
to  others  in  order  to  free  his  own  mind  for  the  formula- 
tion of  policies,  or  for  creative  activity.  The  townsman 
cannot  keep  his  hands  clean  nor  free  himself  from  the 
large  necessity  of  manual  labour.  From  the  standpoint 
of  the  farmer's  training,  however,  he  enjoys  a  large 
measure  of  specialized  education  and  the  opportunity  of 
concentration  which  means  capacity  for  leadership.  His 
is  the  more  originating  and  directive  habit  of  life.  This 
the  farmer  actually  recognizes ;  most  of  his  immediate 
leaders,  social,  economic,  religious,  political, — are  little 
townsmen.  He  will  follow  them  when  he  will  acknowl- 
edge no  leader  of  his  own  kind.  The  townsman  has  also 
versatility  which  the  countryman  lacks,  and  may  project 
himself  in  many  directions :  he  has  leisure  as  well  to  make 
himself  relatively  the  master  of  this  or  that  field.  The 
world  is  too  much  with  the  city  man.  The  townsman, 
standing  off  a  little  from  it,  may  get  the  better  perspect- 
ive, share  it  the  more  unhurriedly  and  judge  it  the  more 
wisely.  Thus  he  leads  a  balanced,  moderate  life,  a  life 
yielding  not  only  great  rewards  in  personal  satisfaction, 
but  affording  also  great  opportunities  for  social  serv-ice 
and  for  philosophical  insights.  He  may  be  both  a  happy 
man  and  a  useful  one. 


THE  TOWN'S  POSSIBILITIES:  STRUCTURAL 
FUNDAMENTALS 

STANDARDIZING    COMMUNITIES 

The  judge  rises  to  pronounce  sentence  upon  the  crim- 
inal; the  school  master  marks  away  with  his  blue  pencil 
at  a  pile  of  examination  papers;  the  factory  inspector 
scrutinizes  a  manufacturing  plant  for  ventilating  de- 
vices, safety  appliances  and  fire  precautions;  the  ac- 
countant sifts  the  firm 's  books ;  the  preacher  takes  a  text 
from  the  Ten  Commandments;  the  housewife  counts  the 
missing  buttons  of  her  neighbour's  children  and  scans 
the  family  washing  as  it  hangs  in  their  back  yard.  Sup- 
pose they  all  were  constituted  a  committee  and  went  up 
and  down  a  state  judging  not  individuals — but  com- 
munities. 

What  Constitutes  a  Good  Town?  This,  almost  liter- 
ally, it  what  has  happened  to  Kansas.^  In  1914-15, 
forty  of  the  larger  towns  and  smaller  cities  entered  a 
contest  in  civic  excellence  for  first  and  second  prizes  of 
$1000  and  $500  respectively.  After  sifting  written  argu- 
ments, a  committee,  including  the  President  of  the  State 
Teachers'  Association  and  the  State  Sanitary  Inspector, 
actually  visited  and  graded  the  fifteen  most  promising 

1  Harger,  "What  Makes  a  Model  Town,"  Independent,  July  12, 
1915,  p.  53. 

96 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  97 

contestants,  and  awarded  the  honours.  Winfield  won, 
with  Independence  second.  A  similar  contest  for  1!)15- 
IG  wa.s  limited  to  the  smaller  towns.  The  movement 
originated  and  is  carried  out  by  the  Extension  Division 
of  the  State  University.  Kansas  has  already  begun  to 
answer  offieially,  ''What  constitutes  a  good  town?" 

Inadequacy  of  Popular  Conceptions  of  Progress. 
Rigidly  scientific  standards  and  methods  for  judging 
communities  belong  doubtless  some  distance  in  the  future. 
Enough,  however,  is  surely  established  to  demolish  the 
standards  of  self-complacency  and  conceit  which  char- 
acterize the  average  towns,  and  which  supply  matter  for 
endless  wrangling  between  their  rival  weekly  newspapers. 
This  particular  place,  for  example,  chooses  to  call  itself 
"The  Bread  and  Butter  Town,"  and  advertises  the  fact 
by  a  "booster"  sign  at  the  railway  station.  There  are 
anti-tuberculosis  ])lacards  in  tlie  post  ofHce  and  anti- 
saloon  posters  on  tlie  telephone  poles.  On  a  vacant  lot 
between  business  buildings  there  is  a  school  garden 
where  the  whole  community  may  see  it.  One  of  the 
churches  has  recently  been  enlarged.  There  is  a  new 
concrete  "lock-up."  The  commercial  club  has  issued  a 
glowing  descriptive  booklet  setting  forth  the  virtues  of 
the  town.  On  the  outskirts  is  a  fair  ground,  and  may 
not  one  hear  the  town  band  practising  in  the  "K.  P." 
hall?  A  vast  amount  of  civic  "good"  is  going  on  after 
this  fashion  in  America.  The  instinct  toward  it  is  fairly 
indigenous,  though  its  expressions  are  largely  imitation. 
' '  I  read  it  in  a  magazine  ;  let 's  try  it  here, ' '  is  the  usual 
formula.  Specific  organization  for  community  better- 
ment is  still  the  exception.  Its  cases  number  by  hun- 
dreds, while  the  towns  are  thousands.     The  results  in 


98  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  large  present  an  incoherent  and  Topsy-like  picture. 
Science  Applied  to  Civics.  The  attempted  precision 
of  judgment  involved  in  the  Kansas  contest  as  described 
above,  was  sought  by  the  use  of  a  system  of  scoring  by 
points.  Assuming  that  a  good  town  is  one  which  is  good 
to  bring  up  children  in,  six  fundamental  aspects  of  child 
welfare  were  set  up  as  tests  of  excellence  and  formulated 
as  follows:  (1)  opportunities  for  play  and  athletics; 
(2)  school  work  and  industrial  training;  (3)  social  and 
recreational  activities;  (4)  physical  and  moral  safe- 
g-uards;  (5)  activities  of  child-fostering  clubs  and  socie- 
ties ;  (6)  attendance  at  Sunday  school  and  kindred  organ- 
izations. These  six  major  tests  were  then  elaborated  into 
about  forty  subordinate  points.  The  town  which  aver- 
aged highest  on  points  was  declared  the  best  town.  No 
one  will  dispute  the  correctness  of  the  Kansas  instinct 
in  making  child  welfare  a  fundamental  criterion  of  civic 
excellence;  yet  certainly  it  is  not  the  only  one.  A  good 
town  to  bring  up  children  in,  which  cannot  keep  them 
alive  while  being  brought  up,  lacks  something  of  final 
goodness.  The  Texas  "cleanest  town"  contest  is  there- 
fore a  necessary  supplement  to  the  Kansas  scheme  of 
judging  communities.  A  completely  developed  scheme 
would  include  all  the  major  civic  interests  now  prac- 
tically before  American  towns, — possibly  thirty  or  forty 
in  all — and  might  discover  two  or  three  hundred  score- 
points  worth  weighing.  The  variety  of  civic  improve- 
ment movements  recorded  in  the  current  magazines  at 
least  approximates  these  figures.  By  analysing  their  re- 
lations and  combining  them  upon  proper  principles  an 
approximate  science  of  community  excellence  may  ulti- 
mately be  reached. 


STRUCTURAL  Fl'NDAMENTALS      99 

Limitation  of  Civic  Possibilities  by  Size  and  Wealth. 
In  using  any  such  standard  as  an  actual  test,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  size  of  the  community  and  its  economic 
resources  will  have  to  be  considered.  The  particular 
form  in  which  a  town's  possibilities  can  be  realized  de- 
pends upon  the  number  and  wealth  of  its  people,  the 
taxable  values  of  the  community  and  ultimately  upon 
the  prosperity  of  the  supporting  country  area.  The  case 
of  twenty-five  families  organized  into  an  incorporated 
village  in  a  rich  farming  country  is  not  the  same  as  that 
of  a  similar  number  of  families  in  a  depleted  or  unde- 
veloped country.  The  ease  of  one  hundred  families  is 
not  the  same  as  that  of  two  hundred. 

Generic  Possibilities.  Nevertheless  there  are  certain 
excellencies  available  for  the  whole  group  of  little  towns 
as  contemplated  by  this  discussion.  "With  respect  to 
their  common  conditions  certain  current  methods  of  im- 
provement are  open.  In  their  application  they  vary 
with  the  character  and  size  of  the  community,  but  so  far 
as  they  grow  out  of  its  essential  character  they  apply  to 
all  little  towns  and  are  capable  of  generalized  statement. 

Such  a  statement  is  attempted  in  this  and  the  two 
following  chapters. 

First  of  all  come  the  fundamental  considerations  of 
the  town's  control  of  its  physical  environment  and  of 
itself  as  the  economic  and  social  environment  of  its 
people.  However  large  or  small  it  may  be,  it  can  strive 
toward  certain  basic  virtues  in  these  relations. 

THE   town's   PHYSIC.VL    PLAN 

The  Ordinary  Checker  Board  Arrangement.  The  lit- 
tle town  may  have  a  good  physical  plan.     Except  that 


100  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

it  is  traditionally  laid  off  into  rectangular  blocks  regu- 
lated by  streets,  and  that  it  is  generally  bisected  by  a 
railroad  with  a  series  of  grade  crossings  giving  a  maxi- 
mum of  inconvenience,  ugliness  and  danger,  the  little 
town  is  essentially  unplanned.  It  grows  by  indefinite 
extensions  of  the  checker  board  arrangement  of  geo- 
graphical units.  When  this  method  is  necessarily  modi- 
fied by  the  physical  features  of  the  town  site  these 
features  are  rarely  made  to  function  in  its  plan.  They 
remain  barriers  and  accidents.  If  there  is  a  river  it 
soon  becomes  a  sewer.  A  hill  remains  merely  a  hill 
through  which  an  ugly  cut  must  some  day  be  made. 
Hundreds  of  new  towns  have  sprung  up  in  the  last 
decade  without  intelligence  enough  in  location  to  secure 
natural  drainage  or  to  avoid  a  slough  or  a  sink  hole  at 
the  very  centre. 

A  Few  Well  Planned  Towns.  Some  of  the  ancient 
towns  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  brought  over  European 
traditions  of  good  town  planning,  and  rare  examples 
survived  westward  migration.  One  who  knows  a  certain 
Western  state  intimately  remembers  just  one  little  town 
which  from  the  beginning  arranged  its  public  buildings 
adjacent  to  a  central  green,  which  in  turn  fronted  its 
business  centre.  The  three  leading  churches,  high  school, 
public  library,  hotel  and  railway  station  are  in  blocks 
facing  or  touching  this  central  open  space.  While  no 
one  ever  set  down  a  general  plan  on  paper,  the  good 
sense  of  the  community  managed  to  preserve  and  accen- 
tuate its  exceptional  beginnings.  But  probably  the 
whole  state  does  not  present  a  second  example  even  ap- 
proximately as  good.  The  same  ratio  would  hold  state 
after  state  for  whole  sections  of  the  nation. 


STRUCTURAL  FINDAMENTALS  101 

Recent  Model  Towns  Usually  Non-typical.  The  most 
perfectly  planned  American  towns  are  those  created 
within  a  few  years  by  corporations  employing  expert 
engineers  and  scientific  knowledge,  and  combining  effi- 
ciency with  ideals.  In  the  main  these  are  non-agricul- 
tural and  essentially  non-typical.  Good  examples  are 
model  towns  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  or 
the  notable  achievement  of  the  Sage  Foundation  at 
Forest  Hills,  L.  I.  Occasional  real  estate  projects,  chiefly 
in  suburban  areas,  show  the  same  excellencies ;  but  Amer- 
ica is  almost  without  an  example  of  a  recent  little  towTi 
combining  good  plan  with  democracy.  These  model 
places  were  created  by  corporations  or  promoters,  not  by 
the  collective  intelligence  and  ideals  of  the  people  of  com- 
munities. They  do  not  often  combine  private  owner- 
ship and  enterprise  with  civic  unity  and  beauty.  And 
physical  plan,  however  excellent,  cannot  have  great  com- 
munity significance  until  it  is  really  a  democratic  achieve- 
ment. 

Civic  Architecture.  Town  planning  opens  new  pos- 
sibilities to  American  communities  as  well  as  to  benevo- 
lent corporations.  In  its  lowest  terms  it  consists  merely 
of  designing  and  creating  a  logical  and  beautiful  group 
of  homes  and  business  structures,  with  streets  connecting 
them  and  leading  out  into  the  open  country,  as  con- 
veniently, economically,  and  attractively  as  possible  in 
the  light  of  the  best  knowdedge  and  taste  of  our  age. 
There  must  be  a  civic  centre  visibly  expressing  the  spirit- 
ual unity  of  the  community;  around  this  the  main  insti- 
tutions will  be  located.  In  location  as  well  as  in  design 
and  architecture  the  distinction  between  the  principal 
and  subordinate  features  will  be  everywhere  maintained. 


102  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

The  average  new  town  makes  its  Main  Street  wider  than 
Fifth  Avenue,  and  in  general  utterly  disregards  scale 
and  proportion.  Streets  of  model  corporation-towns 
vary  in  width  according  to  the  use  which  will  be  given 
them.  Some  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation 
plans  call  sixteen  feet  wide  enough  for  most  of  the  resi- 
dence streets  of  the  village.  The  average  town  dedicates 
three  or  four  times  as  much  space  as  this, — chiefly  to 
weeds  and  mud.  Along  with,  or  if  necessary  in  stead  of, 
the  formal  park,  is  a  centrally  located  community  play- 
ground of  ample  size.  So  far  as  possible  the  entire  town 
becomes  a  park  by  virtue  of  suitable  home  grounds,  the 
proper  planting  of  trees  and  such  building  restrictions 
as  help  to  secure  the  largest  possible  open  spaces  every- 
where. A  first  condition  of  a  good  plan  is  the  provision 
of  adequate  public  utilities,  and  a  second,  their  control. 
They  are  now  almost  the  chief  foes  of  communal  beauty. 
A  colour  scheme  for  the  whole  town  is  not  thought  im- 
possible, carried  out  in  the  materials  of  surfacing  the 
roadways,  in  the  tinting  of  concrete  sidewalks,  of  foliage 
and  house  painting.  The  main  thoroughfares  and  gate- 
ways of  the  town,  both  from  its  residential  portions  to 
its  civic  centre,  and  from  its  outskirts  to  its  country 
roads,  are  particularly  designed  and  emphasized.  Every- 
where such  natural  beauty  as  exists  is  cherished  and  de- 
veloped. Finally  the  entire  town  has  become  a  work 
of  art. 

Spiritual  Unity  Throug-h  Proper  Plan.  The  sig- 
nificance of  this  ideal  is  far  more  than  aesthetic.  A 
planless  city  gets  to  be  impossible.  It  blocks  its  side- 
walks with  human  bodies  and  makes  its  streets  impassable 
with  masses  of  goods,  vehicles  and  people,  vainly  seeking 


— ^^^\N 

BANK.  ;      I      I      I      I  \ 


I. 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  103 

to  meet  and  pass  without  collision.  It  crushes,  smothers 
and  wrecks  the  nerves  of  its  citizens.  A  planless  little 
town  does  not  thus  literally  turn  and  take  its  people  by 
the  throat ;  but  it  does  them  subtler  wrong.  Apart  from 
the  wear  and  waste  of  centuries  of  inconvenience  from 
ill-planned  streets  and  facilities,  there  are  those  terrific 
barriers  to  moral  unity  and  those  devices  of  class  selfish- 
ness which  physical  sectionalism  always  seize  upon.  Be- 
ing born  across  the  tracks  comes  to  be  like  being  born 
blind  or  black.  The  simple  accident  of  living  in  the 
less  favoured  part  of  town  acts  as  a  permanent  handicap. 
As  well  belong  in  another  world  as  live  across  the  river ! 
Thousands  of  Americans  know  this  to  their  sorrow.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  well-planned  town  with  its  civic  centre, 
is  both  means  and  impulse  to  social  integration,  and  to 
the  realization  of  the  common  life  of  its  people.  Physical 
plan  to  the  town  is  thus  as  fundamental  as  the  skeleton 
to  the  human  orfranism. 

Directing  the  Inevitable.  A  city  can  afford  to  re- 
build itself  according  to  its  ideals  because  of  the  enor- 
mous growth  of  its  taxable  property  values,  A  little 
towTi  can  afford  to  rebuild  itself  because  its  property 
values  generally  do  not  increase.  Its  flimsy  buildings 
are  sure  to  go  in  half  a  century.  Its  roadways  over 
much  of  the  continent  may  at  least  be  narrowed  and 
tree-lined.  The  question  is  not  whether  the  to^vn  shall 
re-erect  itself,  but  whether  it  shall  build  planlessly  the 
second  time.  With  general  prosperity  and  the  rising 
standards  of  living,  new  buildings  are  springing  up 
everywhere,  particularly  such  public  structures  as 
schools,  churches  and  town  halls.  A  little  foresight  and 
radical  action  at  the  right  time, — especially  as  the  law 


104  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

comes  to  authorize  town-planning  commissions — can 
gradually  work  over  thousands  of  planless  little  towns 
into  fairly  unified  and  not  unbeautiful  condition.  Thus 
a  small  Middle-Western  community  within  the  last  fifteen 
years  has  erected  its  high  school,  public  library,  govern- 
ment building  and  three  churches,  and  has  done  all  its 
street  improvement.  At  an  unappreciable  additional 
cost — perhaps  $30,000 — used  to  purchase  a  block  and  a 
half  of  land  with  nine  dwellings  and  to  move  one  church 
to  a  new  site,  this  town  may  even  now  obtain  a  civic 
centre  on  which  will  face  nine  of  its  ten  accidentally 
placed  public  buildings.  In  hundreds  of  communities 
it  is  not  yet  too  late  to  take  radical  and  far-reach- 
ing action,  while  almost  every  little  town  in  America 
can  decidedly  improve  itself  by  making  the  inevitable 
changes  of  its  next  quarter-century  according  to  a  definite 
plan. 

THE  town's   economic   PLAN 

It  is  possible  for  the  little  town  to  determine  with 
something  like  scientific  precision  the  nature  and  range 
of  its  economic  possibilities.  By  considering  its  rela- 
tions to  the  open  country  and  the  basis  of  its  life  in  the 
soil,  and  other  natural  wealth,  it  has  the  means  of  dis- 
covering how  large  it  is  likely  to  get,  what  it  should 
chiefly  and  permanently  work  at,  and  how  much  wealth 
its  people  may  properly  expect. 

Knowledge  is  Partial.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
only  relative  precision  in  these  matters  is  possible.  There 
is  no  escaping  the  adventure  which  inheres  in  life  itself, 
and  no  guaranteeing  of  fulfilment  even  to  the  orderly 
dreams  of  men.  Yet  there  is  a  large  area  of  dependable 
information  ready  to  be  utilized. 


o 


n 


□ 


B 


□ 


01  n '.  3c^ 'TTTOry) 


o 

I^YS^ 

• 

1^ 

D 


M 


t^ 

B 

CT 

(^ 

L2J 
a 


tl 


to 

'a 


55 

g 

a 

o 

< 
o 

z 

•< 


ES 


O 


n 


^  QIP 


& 


□ 


D 


n 

m 

D 

bi^  h 

D 

Q 


£:] 


g3 


□ 


O   -I 


o  I  r  r  r 


9  o 


S?: 


I  I  I   r  S 


Xo.il_ozuvJOtJ 


EZZ3 


D 


0 


m 


0 

a 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  105 

The  extent  of  the  soil  which  the  little  town  occupies 
has  already  been  determined  by  the  land  survey;  the 
contours  and  physical  features  of  the  land  by  the  geo- 
logical survey ;  while  there  exists  certain  meteorological 
records,  typical  soil  surveys,  water  supply  investigations 
and  the  like  which  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  permanent 
values  of  the  soil  as  a  basis  of  sustenance  and  life.  The 
various  agricultural  experiment  stations  have  shown  what 
can  be  done  by  the  farmer.  The  timber  and  mineral 
resources  have  been  surveyed.  Private  initiative  has 
estimated  the  values  of  land  and  natural  resources  and 
the  possibility  of  markets.  Hundreds  of  men  have  tried 
the  still  more  convincing  experiment  of  making  a  living 
in  various  ways.  It  ought  to  be  possible  to  strike  a  fair 
average  between  the  optimists  and  pessimists,  between 
the  scientists  and  the  ''boosters"  as  to  the  economic  pos- 
sibilities of  the  community. 

Knowledge  vs.  Impulsive  Action.  Instead  of  steadily 
using  such  knowledge  as  exists  to  suggest  and  control 
rational  ventures  and  experiments,  the  average  little 
town  repeats  an  economic  career  consisting  of  successive 
exhibitions  of  mob-miudedness.  Thus  a  comparatively 
staid  Iloosier  village  recently  studied  in  detail,^  has  a 
virtually  unbroken  record  of  collective  economic  folly 
for  seventy-five  years.  It  has  never  understood  the  dom- 
inant forces  within  which  its  destinies  are  involved  and 
has  always  followed  the  wrong  clues  to  progress.  In  its 
spasms  of  special  enthusiasm  it  has  never  been  clear 
headed.  It  has  experienced  two  booms  which  burst  and 
between  them  has  always  had  an  itching  palm  for  un- 
substantial gain  and  an  open  ear  to  the  allurement  of 

2  Sims,  "A  Hoosier  Village."  p.  27  f. 


106  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

fake  oil  and  mining  stock  or  similar  devices.  Once  it 
was  victimized  out  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  by 
a  single  lying  insurance  scheme.  Within  a  few  years 
it  has  suffered  almost  universal  madness  of  investment 
in  a  factory  which  never  opened.  Time  after  time  its 
collective  capital  has  been  dissipated  and  a  sad  number 
of  individuals  impoverished  through  its  habitual  eco- 
nomic folly.  Not  all  towns  are  as  bad  as  this  one,  but 
some  are  infinitely  worse.  Whenever  their  economic 
imagination  is  stirred  it  goes  wild ;  this  is  the  well  estab- 
lished badge  of  the  class.  Even  when  their  activities 
fall  in  with  great  economic  movements  they  bear  the 
marks  of  mind  crazed  and  stampeded  rather  than  of 
rational  obedience  to  the  probable.  It  means  a  complete 
reversal  of  habit  for  such  communities  to  use  exact  or 
approximate  knowledge  when  it  exists. 

Agricultural  Resources.  Broadly  speaking  three 
things  are  known  about  agriculture  which  are  basic  for 
the  economic  policy  of  the  little  town.  First,  agricul- 
tural experience,  though  gained  in  the  expensive  school 
of  trial  and  failure,  is  always  more  right  than  wrong. 
It  has  determined  the  staple  crops  of  any  given  area,  and 
the  fundamental  methods  of  handling  them.  Their  aver- 
age value  through  a  series  of  years  is  easily  determinable. 
These  staples  may  change  but  if  they  do,  the  change  will 
be  distributed  through  a  rather  prolonged  cycle  of  time. 
Meanwhile  novelties  will  naturally  be  adopted  gradually, 
after  being  proved  out  by  conservative  experiments. 
Second,  scientific  agriculture  provides  the  almost  uni- 
versal possibility  of  reasonable  advance  in  profits 
through  the  improvement  of  existing  types  of  farming 
and  the  gradual  discovery   and  working  out  of  exact 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  107 

local  adaptations,  so  that  ultimately  each  area  may  be 
farming  in  what  is,  for  it,  the  most  advantageous  way, 
considering  all  the  factors  involved.  Scientific  agri- 
culture can  perform  miracles,  but  its  general  value  to 
rural  populations  depends  chiefly  upon  patience,  common 
sense  and  the  social  virtues  which  blend  in  the  com- 
munity spirit.  Third,  land  values  and  agricultural 
prices  are  likely  to  keep  on  rising  and  the  farmer  both 
to  want  and  to  be  able  to  pay  for  increasing  comforts 
and  luxuries.  Rural  prosperity,  on  the  whole,  is  certain 
but  it  will  be  modest  both  as  to  scale  and  rapidity.  A 
share  in  this  prosperity,  proportionate  to  its  essential 
services  to  the  country,  is  the  lower  limit  to  what  the 
little  town  ought  rationally  to  expect. 

Industrial  Resources.  For  that  majority  of  little 
towns  which  was  created  by  agriculture,  there  is  there- 
fore a  certain  guarantee  of  modest  good  fortune  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance.  The  case  is  far  different  when 
such  towns  try  to  add  a  second  economic  basis  in  indus- 
try. Few  were  directly  created  by  industry,  and  the 
attempt  to  reach  prosperity  through  acquired  industries 
is  attended  with  much  risk.  This  would  be  inevitable  in 
any  venture  involving  so  complete  a  break  with  former 
economic  habits  and  outlook.  It  is  doubly  inevitable  in 
that  it  means  passing  over  to  a  sphere  in  which  the 
chance  of  success  is  much  more  narrowly  limited  than 
in  agriculture.  The  fields  of  agricultural  prosperity 
spread  out  broadly ;  those  of  industry  are  narrow  patches 
between  smoking  hillsides.  Brigham  summarizes  the  fac- 
tors whose  coincidence  in  a  given  place  make  it  a  likely 
industrial  centre  as  follows:  "the  locality  and  origin  of 
the  raw  material,   the  possibility  of   quick  and   cheap 


108  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

transportation,  the  presence  of  power,  the  neighbour- 
hood of  supplementary  materials,  the  resources  of  mar- 
ket, the  supply  of  labour,  the  taxes  and  imposts  of  gov- 
ernment, whether  local,  national,  domestic  or  foreign, 
and  also  the  business  skill  and  inventive  genius  of  the 
people."^  Returning  to  the  Hoosier  village  mentioned 
above,  it  is  evident  that  it  never  possessed  these  advan- 
tages in  sufficient  number  to  warrant  any  expectation 
of  becoming  an  industrial  town.  Especially  does  its 
case  show  the  utter  unfitness  of  a  little-town  population 
acting  impulsively  and  en  masse,  to  cope  with  the  prob- 
lems of  industrial  development.  There  is  something 
pathetically  splendid  in  the  repeated  industrial  efforts 
and  failures  of  small  communities  the  continent  over; 
and  there  has  been  a  sufficient  percentage  of  success  to 
keep  them  trying.  No  one  wants  their  economic  re- 
sources to  remain  undeveloped.  Yet  in  this  day  of 
massed  capital,  equipped  with  expert  agents  and  all 
available  knowledge,  exploring  the  ends  of  the  earth  for 
economic  openings,  it  is  surely  sane  for  the  little  town 
to  wait  for  the  development  of  its  local  resources  upon 
movements  sure  to  come  in  time,  if  and  where  there  is 
anything  worth  coming  for,  all  things  considered.  It  is 
surely  saner  than  for  it  to  hazard  its  collective  all  in  a 
realm  of  major  risks  in  which  it  is  inexpert  and  to 
which  it  is  unequal.  Local  capital  has  its  part  to  play, 
but  the  glory  of  failure  should  be  reserved  for  indi- 
viduals, not  imposed  upon  whole  towns  by  the  action  of 
the  mob-mind.  Meanwhile,  the  city  is  reaching  out  for 
the  towns  fast  enough.  Industry  will  succeed  in  them 
as  fast  as  the  urban  regime,  with  its  organization  and 

3  "Commercial  Geography,"  p.  98. 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  WJ 

control  of  wealth,  reaches  them ;  but  not  much  faster. 

Commercial  Resources.  It  is  (|uite  possible  to  dis- 
cover the  size  and  legitimate  demands  of  the  present 
trade  area  dependent  upon  the  little  town,  and  efficiently 
to  express  and  minister  to  the  advanced  standard  of 
living  made  possible  by  the  new  agriculture  and  the  con- 
sequent improvement  of  farming  and  of  rural  society. 
A  fairly  definite  statement  is  possible  of  what  the  little 
town  ought  to  supply  to  the  farmer  who  lives  within  its 
trade  area.  To  be  sure  the  case  is  not  exactly  simple. 
The  average  little  town  has  not  an  exclusive  area  of  de- 
pendent country.  It  has  rivals,  near  and  remote.  The 
countryman  today  has  alternatives,  especially  in  the 
direction  of  trade  in  the  city  through  the  mail-order 
house.  The  growth  of  minor  centres  continually  renders 
the  retail  business  of  many  a  little  town  superfluous. 
The  increase  in  the  number  of  retail  merchants — over 
fifty  per  cent,  in  ten  years — is  probably  more  rapid  than 
that  of  the  purchasing  power  of  the  population,  in  spite 
of  all  its  new  and  more  luxurious  demands.  The  pos- 
sibility which  is  open  to  many  a  merchant  and  many  a 
town  is  the  possibility  of  death.  Competition  between 
towns  apparently  can  be  settled  only  by  the  survival  of 
the  fittest.  As  yet  no  effective  application  of  public  in- 
telligence seems  available  as  a  substitute  for  trade  war. 

Better  Merchandising.  At  the  same  time  in  all  the 
older  sections  of  the  country,  the  little  town  may  fairly 
estimate  the  amount  of  trade  which  it  is  able  to  hold 
and  the  margin  within  which  it  may  increase  its  trade 
by  enterprise  and  the  service  of  new  needs.  Within  it- 
self, it  can  determine  approximately  the  number  of  retail 
enterprises  in  each  given  line  which   can  survive  and 


110  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

prosper.  When  it  begs  its  people  to  ''stick  to  our  mer- 
chants" it  ought  to  be  able  to  give  a  defensible  reason 
based  on  reasonably  exact  statistics  of  the  needs  and 
usefulness  of  its  local  enterprises.  Popular  opinion  will 
speedily  become  decisive  in  favour  of  the  enterprise 
which  is  really  serving  the  people  and  which  keeps 
abreast  of  the  times.  Flagrant  waste  in  duplicatory 
overhead  charges  such  as  the  maintenance  of  rival  de- 
livery wagons,  has  already  been  obviated  in  small  pro- 
gressive communities  by  the  organization  of  joint  de- 
livery systems.  Many  of  the  lines  of  retail  business, 
through  trade  journals,  operate  correspondence  schools 
in  the  art  of  retail  selling  which  enable  the  little-town 
merchant  to  rival  the  city  in  efficiency  of  organization 
and  attractiveness  of  display.  The  University  of  Wis- 
consin through  its  extension  department  has  been  holding 
institutes  especially  intended  to  develop  the  latent  pos- 
sibilities of  retail  merchandising  in  small  places.  Com- 
mercial ideals  and  standards  are  quite  within  control 
of  any  community,  through  up  to  date  and  intelligent 
organization.  Unquestionably  the  little-town  merchant 
must  brace  up.  The  American  people  wish  to  have 
fun  while  they  spend  their  money  and  they  must  be 
satisfied.  This  means  that  economic  consumption  has 
come  to  be  dominated  more  largely  by  social  ideals,  and 
not  by  sheer  necessity.  Americans  ought  not  to  have  to 
go  outside  of  their  immediate  communities  to  find  these 
ideals  recognized  and  gratified. 

Standards  and  Technique  of  Commercial  Organiza- 
tion. A  commercial  club  or  similar  organization  in  a 
little  town  should  take  itself  seriously  and  perform  its 
functions  upon  the  basis  of  scientific  knowledge.     That 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  111 

will  determine  the  lines  of  its  efforts  for  publicity  and 
promotion.  Many  a  town  is  still  suffering  from  the  re- 
action which  is  sure  to  follow  from  inflated  claims. 
Entire  states  might  be  mentioned  which  are  cursed  by 
stranded  "soreheads"  who  have  been  lured  to  their  bor- 
ders by  lying  advertisements,  but  who  remain  as  a  per- 
manently disgruntled  element  in  the  population.  It  is 
far  better  not  to  attract  new  enterprises  than  to  attract 
failures.  One  hears  of  the  agricultural  department  of 
a  great  state  university  protesting  against  the  employ- 
ment of  bright  graduates  of  its  school  of  commerce  to 
tell  official  falsehoods  in  behalf  of  officious  towns.  There 
is  ultimate  satisfaction  in  not  only  telling  the  truth  but 
in  knowing  the  truth  and  not  fooling  oneself.  Notable 
improvement  is  taking  place  in  the  breed  of  commercial 
club  secretaries  and  in  the  spirit  of  community  adver- 
tisements. And  in  notable  instances  commercial  organ- 
izations have  discovered  their  own  idealistic  possibilities 
and  become  the  agents  of  town  improvement  on  the  gen- 
eral and  especially  the  finer  sides.  The  rural  Y.M.C.A. 
has  been  particularly  successful  in  aligning  some  of  these 
organizations  with  its  plans  for  civic  betterment. 

Co-operation  of  Town  and  Country.  Crucial  in  the 
plan  of  economic  advancement  is  the  inclusion  of  the 
farming  population  with  the  business  men  in  some  com- 
mon organization.  Clinton,  Iowa,  has  been  notably  suc- 
cessful in  bridging  the  gap  of  indifference  between  town 
and  country  by  the  promotion  of  agricultural  intelligence 
and  the  development  of  the  rural  resources  of  its  trade 
area.*  It  is  not  enough  merely  to  instruct  the  farmer; 
instruction  has  been  going  on  for  a  good  while.     It  is 

4  Cubberley,  "Rural  Life  and  Education,"  156. 


112 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 


the  conscious  identification  of  fortunes  which  is  lacking. 
The  thousand  or  so  farm  producers  who  occupy  the  trade 
area  of  the  little  town  are  as  much  parts  of  it  as  though 
they  were  operatives  working  in  a  factory  within  its 
borders.  They  must  be  recognized  on  this  basis  in  eco- 
nomic organization.  The  farmer  on  his  part  is  clannish, 
suspicious,  and  slow  to  include  the  town  business  man 
in  his  rural  betterment  movements.     But  somehow  the 


V.J.    DEP'T 

Of 

AOILICULTUILE 


tOWA  JTATE 
COLLEGE  OF 
AGIUCULTUIt£ 


The  Clinton  Plan  for  Agricultural  Betterment  combining  town  and 

country  into  one  unit. 

leaders  at  least  of  the  two  groups  must  get  together. 
This  is  the  peculiar  strength  of  the  Clinton  plan.  It 
brings  the  country  and  townspeople  into  actual  organ- 
ized co-operation.  The  Commercial  Club  has  a  com- 
mittee of  thirty  on  agriculture;  twenty  of  its  members 
are  farmers.  This  committee  has  organized  the  twenty 
contiguous  townships  and  subdivided  them  into  two  hun- 
dred neighbourhood  groups.     The  leaders  of  these  town- 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  113 

ship  organizations  and  smaller  groups  become  members 
of  the  Commercial  Club.  The  Club  ollicers  in  tuiii  are 
members  of  the  farmers'  organizations.  Clinton  is  a 
small  city  in  size,  but  its  method  is  directly  available  for 
the  little  town. 

THE   town's   HEiU^TH    PLAN 

Through  the  adoption  ol"  definite  standards  of  civic 
hygiene  the  little  town  may  have  what  amounts  to  a 
health  plan.  It  is  certainly  its  duty  to  see  that  the  mass- 
ing of  human  lives  in  its  limited  area  does  not  take 
additional  toll  of  them  in  safety  and  health.  No  statis- 
tics exist  which  show  exactly  to  what  extent  ri.sk  is  added 
from  contagion  and  contamination  even  in  the  smaller 
village  community.  The  sanitation  of  the  open  country 
was  bad  enough,  but  the  little  town  with  the  country's 
habits  and  without  the  city's  remedies  may  easily  be  the 
most  dangerous  place  of  all.  Certain  minimum  demauds 
of  the  civilized  conscience  ought  everywhere  to  be  made 
the  basis  of  collective  life.  First,  an  adequate  and  un- 
impeachable water  supply ;  second,  a  method  for  the  dis- 
posal of  sewage  and  waste  without  soil  contamination  or 
the  breeding  of  disease  carriers ;  third,  efficient  fire  pro- 
tection, especially  for  life  and  property  in  the  more  con- 
gested centre  of  the  town  and  the  places  of  public  resort ; 
fourth,  the  proper  lighting  of  public  places,  particularly 
of  school  buildings.  All  these  requirements  apply  with 
particular  force  to  the  school  building  as  housing  the 
town's  chief  treasure.  In  all  these  matters  nothing  costs 
like  failure  to  provide  adequately  for  them. 

Civic  Hygiene.     Stated  concretely,  the  open  well,  the 
unmitigated  privy,  the  manure  pile,  and  alley  rubbish 


114  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

heap  must  go — in  all  towns.  The  right  to  have  them 
must  be  regarded  as  a  rural  luxury.  At  these  points 
town  life  must  come  definitely  upon  the  communal  basis. 
There  are  no  individual  rights  in  such  matters.  A  com- 
munity water  supply  both  for  domestic  use  and  for  fire 
protection  is  not  only  more  sanitary  but  on  the  whole 
more  economical  than  the  multiplicity  of  individual  wells 
with  their  pumps,  repairs,  and  up-keep  can  possibly  be. 
The  incinerator  or  preparation  of  garbage  for  agricul- 
tural fertilization  are  available  even  for  the  little  town, 
at  surprisingly  low  cost.  The  septic  tank  or  standard- 
ized and  properly  kept  earth  closet  should  be  universally 
required  for  the  individual  home  where  a  sewer  system 
is  not  yet  possible.  Some  method  of  inspection  and  of 
collective  disposal  of  waste  is  inevitable.  The  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  and  similar  agencies  have 
shown  how  to  bring  efficiency  with  little  cost  even  in 
transient  mining  towns  of  low  grade  population. 

Economics  of  Sanitation.  A  thorough  understand- 
ing of  the  economics  of  this  whole  field  is  fundamental 
to  the  community  health  plan.  The  apparently  extrava- 
gant first  cost  of  proper  methods  may  frequently  be  dem- 
onstrated to  be  smaller  than  the  cost  of  perpetuating 
existing  unsanitary  nuisances.  So  profoundly  vital  is 
this  requirement  of  a  health  plan,  that  the  state  might 
well  condition  the  privilege  of  incorporation  upon  the 
provision  of  standard  methods  for  meeting  the  essential 
sanitary  problems  of  a  community.  No  body  of  people 
ought  to  be  allowed  to  set  up  municipal  housekeeping 
without  the  decencies  of  collective  life. 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  115 


THE   town's   moral   PLAN 


It  is  possible  for  the  little  town  to  have  a  moral  plan, 
approximated  through  conscious  standards  of  social  con- 
trol. As  everywhere,  human  conduct  is  determined 
chiefly  by  the  natural  acquiescence  of  the  human  spirit 
in  the  ways  of  the  social  order  into  which  it  is  born. 
In  the  main  these  ways  satisfy  the  individual ;  even  the 
rebel  is  too  unoriginal  to  depart  from  them.  ]\Ioral  senti- 
ment and  social  convention  do  most  of  their  work  without 
need  of  law  or  police. 

Conflicting  Traditions.  The  control  of  conduct 
through  social  tradition  is,  however,  not  so  simple  as  the 
formula  sounds;  there  are  traditions  rather  than  a 
tradition.  Not  only  is  there  still  a  dash  of  frontier  wild- 
ness  surviving  as  lawlessness  in  the  little  towns  of  much 
of  the  country,  but  the  little  towns  as  a  group  are 
peopled  largely  by  those  who  formerly  lived  in  the 
country  and  who  are  still  largely  dominated  by  the 
countryman's  point  of  view.  In  brief,  they  are  in- 
completely socialized.  Their  people  cling  to  country 
ways  in  spite  of  new  environment.  Thus  in  matters  of 
sanitation,  the  maintenance  of  the  barnyard  manure 
pile  is  a  sacred  private  right  worth  dying  for,  as  a 
symbol  of  our  liberties;  or  on  the  other  hand,  as  the 
little  town  grows  there  come  to  be  those  who  want  to 
push  on  prematurely  into  city  ways  for  the  freedom  of 
which  they  contend  as  martyrs  to  new  light.  In  short 
the  struggle  is  always  on  between  existing  conditions  and 
advancement.  Now,  any  group  of  people  w'hich  is  dis- 
tinctively at  outs  with  environment  presents  a  serious 
moral  problem.     Just  as  the  spirit  of  youth  is  inevitably 


116  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

at  war  with  the  necessary  limitations  of  the  city  streets, 
so  the  rural  mind  is  at  war  with  little-town  conditions. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  vigorous  moral  control  in  order 
to  conform  the  individual  to  the  requirements  of  collec- 
tive life. 

Social  Control  a  Reality.  The  minor  struggle  be- 
tween traditions,  the  give  and  take  of  moral  sentiments 
in  search  of  equilibrium,  the  clash  between  tempera- 
ments, ages  and  views  of  life  will  go  on  normally  for 
ever.  But  no  community  can  do  anything  in  the  direc- 
tion of  its  ideals  till  the  fact  and  main  tendencies  of 
social  control  are  settled.  The  little  town  may  as  well 
face  its  battle  and  have  it  over.  The  necessary  ordi- 
nances of  safety  and  decency  are  to  be  obeyed.  Pigs 
and  poultry  will  be  the  most  frequent  issue.  Their 
economic  value  under  town  conditions  must  first  be 
determined.  If  it  is  best  to  keep  them  at  all,  the  whole 
wearying  round  of  issues  must  be  pursued — ^agitation, 
education,  a  contest  in  local  politics,  a  suit  at  law  or 
two,  a  clash  at  wills  and  of  personal  sentiments  all  along 
the  line. 

Pedagogy  of  Law  Enforcement.  While  all  moral  bat- 
tles must  be  waged  on  every  front  at  once,  it  is  possible 
to  discern  a  sort  of  pedagogical  order  in  which  the  offen- 
sive should  be  undertaken.  It  would  be  foolish  to  make 
the  first  issue  that  of  closing  cigar  stands  on  Sunday, 
which  at  best  would  only  stir  the  conscience  of  a  frac- 
tion of  the  community,  or  that  of  enforcing  liquor  laws, 
which  always  involves  a  contest  with  formidable  in- 
terests from  outside  the  community.  Rather  the  battle 
should  be  drawn  on  some  community  issue  pure  and 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  117 

simple,  in  which  the  enforcing  of  the  collective  against 
the  individualistic  viewpoint  involves  some  broadly 
fundamental  hut  localized  field.  Wheii  the  battle  is 
fought  to  a  finish  here  other  victories  will  come  more 
easily. 

Influence  of  Alien  Commercial  Interests.  The  most 
difficult  yet  necessary  piuises  of  the  little  town's  strug- 
gle for  moral  standards  are  those  involving  outside  in- 
terests not  directly  amenable  to  the  community  con- 
science. They  are  often  said  to  "interfere"  with  the 
community ;  if  so  they  must  be  made  to  interfere  help- 
fully as  well  as  harmfully.  The  most  frequent  and  in- 
sidious of  these  interests  is  the  organized  liquor  tralific, 
although  often  the  interests  of  alien  corporations  cla.sh 
with  those  of  the  community  and  interfere  in  a  similar 
way.  In  these  eases  the  essential  nature  of  the  problem 
is  that  it  is  not  local  in  character.  Local  tools  are  used, 
but  the  principals  to  the  conflict  are  too  remote  to  feel 
local  pressure.  Under  such  circumstances  the  only  re- 
source of  the  little  town  is  to  combine  with  other  com- 
munities using  the  resources  of  state-wide  publicity,  or- 
ganization and  political  action.  The  unromantic,  per- 
petual, straight-away  pull  of  law-enforcement  with  all 
it  costs  in  time,  money  and  personal  discomfort,  is  the 
inevitable  price  of  community  morals  in  their  wider  set- 
ting. 

Standardized  Social  Customs.  Even  more  difficult 
than  law  enforcement,  but  all'ccting  more  people  in  more 
ways  and  entering  more  subtly  into  community  life,  are 
the  problems  of  social  control  in  the  round  of  social  in- 
tercourse; of  amusements,  particularly  for  youth;  the 


118  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

problems  of  standards  of  consumption  registered  by  the 
expenditure  of  money,  and  of  the  use  of  leisure.  The 
concrete  forms  in  which  these  issues  confront  the  little 
town  are  the  party,  the  dance,  theatre  and  amusement 
place;  dress,  travel,  Sunday  observance  and  the  like. 

The  Social  Referendum.  Probably  the  most  rational 
method  of  precipitating  a  body  of  agreements  in  these 
debatable  fields  is  that  of  the  voluntary  referendum, 
which  has  been  tried  out  in  a  number  of  communities. 
It  is  proposed  usually  by  the  federation  of  women's 
organizations  and  consists  simply  in  a  systematic  canvass 
of  the  most  influential  and  earnest  members  of  all  classes 
and  tendencies  in  the  community,  to  see  what  they  think 
the  reasonable  standards  for  ''our  town"  are.  At  what 
hour  should  the  parties  of  high  school  young  people 
close?  How  many  times  a  week  should  growing  boys 
and  girls  be  away  from  home  at  night?  What  is  a 
reasonable  scale  of  entertainment  at  club  functions? 
How  much  should  the  cost  of  graduating  dress  and 
attending  functions  be?  What  are  the  reasonable 
terms  of  social  association  between  adolescents  of  the 
two  sexes?  When  the  results  of  such  questions  are 
generalized  and  announced  a  considerable  range  of 
choice  is  still  open,  but  weak-kneed  parents  are  strength- 
ened to  enforce  some  kind  of  a  standard.  It  is  easier 
for  the  poorer  hostess  not  to  spend  more  than  she  should. 
The  ultra-puritanical  are  restrained  and  the  way  to  ra- 
tional agreements  is  open.  Surely  this  is  better  than 
the  eternal  anxiety  of  the  little  town  as  to  what  is  right 
and  proper  in  social  matters,  the  harsh  judgments  of 
the  stricter  upon  the  less  strict,  the  internal  difficulties 
by  which  a  man's  foes  are  often  they  of  his  own  house- 


STRUCTURAL  FUNDAMENTALS  lllJ 

hold.  "Spoon  River"  is  a  most  realistic  picture  of 
tragic  possibilities  on  this  point. 

In  some  such  ways  as  the  above  the  steadying  force 
of  social  standards  may  be  thus  vitally  evolved  without 
hardening  into  unyielding,  clashing  and  non-progressive 
traditions. 

Foundation  vs.  Structure.  So  far  the  discussion  has 
concerned  the  logical  fundamentals  of  little-town  better- 
ment. It  is  quite  another  thing  to  make  a  constructive 
program  of  social  advance.  All  merely  formal  direc- 
tions, and  especially  negative  ones  for  the  control  of 
life,  will  and  ought  to  fail.  The  most  vitalizing  pos- 
sibility of  the  little  town  is  that  of  having  a  positive 
program  secured  by  the  continuous  activities  of  the  in- 
stitutions of  education  and  service,  and  by  the  direct 
pursuit  of  wholesome  ideals  by  individuals.  One  who 
sees  life  steadily  and  sees  it  whole  will  not  attempt  to 
deal  compulsorily  with  structural  fundamentals  without 
at  the  same  time  creating  an  atmosphere  in  which  whole- 
some community  choices  may  take  place.  He  will  not 
dare  to  specialize  on  law  enforcement  until  he  has  created 
the  playground  and  appreciated  the  spiritual  aspects  of 
recreation.  He  will  not  attempt  to  make  social  stand- 
ards for  his  fellows  except  as  he  can  prevent  a  vision  of 
normal  life  compelling  in  its  attractiveness.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  and  equally,  the  most  idealistic  and  spon- 
taneous community  movements  will  wander  far  without 
a  well  planned  physical  basis  of  town  life;  without  a 
well  ordered  economic  program  through  which  people 
can  win  a  livelihood  and  pay  the  cost  of  their  collective 
enterprises;  without  a  firm  basis  in  human  health 
through  the  facilities  of  public  safety  and  sanitation; 


120  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

and  without  a  substantial  though  flexible  moral  frame- 
work within  which  individual  destinies  may  be  wrought 
out.  On  these  greatest  civic  commandments  hang  all 
the  law  and  the  prophets  of  community  welfare. 


VI 

THE  TOWN'S  POSSIBILITIES:    INSTITUTIONS 

No  possibility  of  the  little  town  is  so  obviously  promis- 
ing as  that  of  improving  its  existing  institutions  in  the 
light  of  modern  ideals  and  standards  of  social  service 
and  efficiency.  Plenty  of  fragmentary  and  disconnected 
movements  in  this  direction  are  already  under  way.  It 
is  a  poor  town  indeed  which  is  not  doing  something  in 
the  direction  of  better  homes,  better  schools,  better 
churches  and  better  civic  agencies. 

BETTER   HOMES 

The  Town's  Homes.  The  home  has  a  fundamental 
civic  significance.  It  is  a  private  concern,  but  it  is 
also  a  public  institution  established  by  law;  and  it  is 
easily  the  chief  social  agency  of  civilization.  In  the 
little  town  particularly,  many  social  functions  for  which 
the  city  evolves  separate  institutions,  are  still  performed 
by  the  home.  More  than  elsewhere  therefore,  its  civic 
aspect  rivals  its  domestic  aspect  in  importance.  Thus 
the  home  of  Donald  and  Dorothea  is  the  sanctuary  of 
the  Smith  family,  but  the  homes  of  Littleton,  collec- 
tively considered,  are  the  chief  environment  of  the  next 
generation.  As  such  they  are  Littleton's  chief  concern. 
The  health,  the  education  (especially  on  its  play  side), 
the  taste,  the  reverence  of  the  whole  town  during  the 

next  fifty  years  are  in  the  keeping  of  the  home  of  to- 

121 


122  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

day.  The  home  is  also  still  the  largest  factor  in  the 
environment  of  youth,  however  youth  may  seek  wider 
fields.  Beside  this,  it  performs  the  fundamental  social 
functions  of  feeding  and  lodging  the  bulk  of  the  adult 
population  and  caring  for  its  occasional  ailments,  as 
well  as  providing  for  the  aged  in  weakness  and  decrepi- 
tude. In  brief  it  is  the  kindergarten,  the  playground, 
the  high  school  fraternity,  the  hotel  and  restaurant,  the 
playhouse,  hospital  and  old  people's  home  of  the  little 
town.  In  these  capacities  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  little- 
town  home  to  acquire  a  most  serious  attitude  towards 
civic  interests  and  to  secure  the  most  progressive  and 
educative  methods  of  self-improvement.  Through  the 
school,  more  immediately  through  the  voluntary  organi- 
zation of  women,  and  rarely  of  men,  its  better  possibi- 
lities are  most  likely  to  be  advanced.  Placed  on  the 
background  of  community  responsibility,  motherhood 
and  home-making  acquire  new  dignity.  The  supple- 
mentary agencies  which  give  an  equal  chance  to  the 
child  of  the  less  favoured  home,  and  especially  to  those 
of  alien  speech  or  despised  race,  are  also  necessary  in 
the  little  town  and  constitute  a  fundamental  department 
of  its  community  service.  Chief  of  them  are  the  social 
centre  and  its  adjuncts, — the  neighbourhood  playground, 
the  story-hour  and  the  teaching  of  gardening  and  ele- 
mentary handicraft.  The  Noroton  (Conn.)  garden  city 
for  children  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  extension  of 
the  home  spirit  to  the  neediest  elements  of  the  commun- 
ity.^ 

Economic  Significance.    Again,  the  home  is  the  little 
town's  most  important  agent  of  economic  production. 

'i- American  City,  X,  p.  161. 


— '      ■  _,— ^ 


TREASURE   HOUSE   AND  TREASURE 


INSTITUTIONS  123 

In  the  large  it  is  the  farm  which  produces, — the  town 
buys  and  sells ;  but  even  the  town  has  its  home  garden 
with  its  allies  or  enemies — the  cow  and  the  chickens. 
They  supplement  not  inconsiderably  the  townsman's  in- 
come, besides  being  good  for  his  health  and  rural  sym- 
pathies. The  H.  C.  Frick  Coke  Company  in  awarding 
prizes  on  the  six  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-three 
vegetable  gardens  kept  by  its  mill  hands,  estimated  the 
total  value  at  $142,536.20,  an  average  of  $21.48  per 
garden. 

The  Home  an  Industrial  Enterprise.  Still  more  sig- 
nificant is  the  economic  function  of  the  kitchen  and 
wash  tub.  Every  misapplication  of  human  energy  is 
challenged  by  the  awakening  social  consciousness,  and 
these  are  flagrant  spheres  of  such  misapplication.  It  is 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the  American  nation  and 
its  civilization,  that  the  domestic  tools  of  the  little  town 
become  modernly  effective.  Many  a  sympathetic  voice 
vibrates  for  the  farmer's  wife  now-a-days,  still  toting 
water  for  her  wash  and  turning  her  wringer  by  hand, 
when  her  husband  has  running  water  for  the  stock,  and 
a  gasoline  engine  for  the  barn.  The  housewife  of  Lit- 
tleton is  under  an  equal  handicap,  "Downtown"  has 
its  plumbing,  its  electricity,  its  gas,  and  the  commercial 
club  boasts  that  Littleton  "has"  these  facilities;  while 
as  a  previous  paragraph  discovers,  they  are  ordinarily 
not  available  for  the  majority  of  homes.  Their  first 
cost  frightens  the  poor  even  when  it  is  not  utterly  im- 
possible. Collective  responsibility  should  therefore  in- 
tervene by  public  ownership  or  otherwise,  providing 
opportunity  for  payment  for  such  facilities  in  instal- 
ments  at   low   interest.     Frequently   ordinary   business 


124  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

intelligence  on  the  part  of  local  utility  companies  would 
largely  solve  the  problem.  Apparently  they  have  given 
almost  no  attention  to  efficiency  in  merchandising  their 
services.  During  many  years  spent  in  little  towns,  the 
author  can  remember  but  one  occasion  of  real  enterprise 
in  this  direction.  It  took  many  years  for  a  privately- 
owned  electric  light  plant  in  an  Iowa  town  of  few  in- 
dustries to  realize  the  waste  of  allowing  an  expensive 
investment  to  lie  idle  during  the  hours  of  daylight.  It 
costs  but  little  more  to  turn  the  wheels  throughout  the 
day  and  to  furnish  electricity  for  cooking  and  ironing 
during  prescribed  hours  at  lower  rates.  This  policy  has 
filled  the  town  homes  with  labour-saving  electric  appli- 
ances. The  municipal  lighting  plant  at  Independence, 
Mo. — a  small  city — has  a  similar  notable  record.  It 
supplies  over  four-fifths  of  its  homes  and  sells  electricity 
for  light  at  seven  cents  per  kilowatt  hour  and  for  cook- 
ing at  three  cents.  Even  when  the  general  extension  of 
modern  improvements  is  beyond  little-town  possibili- 
ties, beginnings  may  still  be  made.  So  vital  is  the  con- 
servation of  human  energy  to  its  higher  uses,  that  no 
educator,  social  reformer  or  spiritual  leader  need  find 
it  beneath  his  dignity  to  initiate  a  movement  for  extend- 
ing sewers  or  for  municipal  water  or  light.  Efficient 
civilization  is  an  idle  word  so  long  as  its  benefits  pass 
by  the  average  American  home.  At  this  point  the  little 
town  has  common  cause  with  the  home  of  the  open 
country. 

Home  and  Neighbourhood.  Homes  occupy  most  of 
the  area  of  the  little  town  and  constitute  the  chief  visual 
environment  which  so  largely  dominates  life.  What 
goes  on  behind  their  doors  is  of  indirect  concern,  but 


INSTITUTIONS  125 

their  front-yard  and  their  back-yard  doings,  with  the 
total  picture  and  impression  of  the  town's  streets  lined 
with  homes,  are  shared  perforce  by  the  whole  commun- 
ity. These  shared,  external  aspects  of  the  home  depend 
chiefly  for  their  finer  possibilities  upon  the  development 
of  community  taste  in  lawns,  shrubbery,  tree  planting, 
home  gardens,  domestic  architecture  and  refined  colour 
sense.  For  most  of  the  community,  imitation  will 
chiefly  govern  in  such  matters.  The  crucial  point  there- 
fore is  the  starting  of  a  few  good  examples.  Their  imi- 
tation should  then  be  stimulated  by  community  garden 
competitions,  with  prizes  offered  for  excellence  in  the 
keeping  of  home  gardens  and  grounds  of  various  sizes. 
Civic  Beauty.  Rivalry  in  the  beautification  of  the 
home  as  well  as  in  productive  gardening  may  be  made 
one  of  the  most  joyous  aspects  of  little-town  life.  Art 
study,  as  now  standardized  for  the  better  high  schools, 
includes  the  elementary  principles  of  landscape  garden- 
ing and  of  domestic  and  civic  architecture.  Interest  in 
these  matters  is  popularized  by  a  host  of  magazines; 
and  one  rejoices  in  the  growth  of  American  taste  until 
much  travel  gives  him  ocular  demonstration  that  the 
majority  of  American  little  towns  are  still  utterly  un- 
touched by  the  hand  of  beauty.  In  the  matter  of  do- 
mestic architecture  the  worst,  on  the  whole,  is  between 
the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi.  Here  fashions 
were  set  after  the  good  old  Colonial  traditions  had  run 
out  and  before  new  ideals  had  arisen  to  take  their  place. 
Toward  the  West  improvement  begins.  Dakota  has  bet- 
ter domestic  architecture  than  Illinois,  and  Montana 
than  Dakota.  The  bungalows  of  the  Pacific  Coast  are 
as  good  in  their  way  as  the  village  homes  of  New  Eng- 


126  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

land,  and  the  town  dwellings  of  the  Colonial  South  and 
Middle  States.  Throughout  the  continent,  trees  happily 
redeem  many  a  town  from  utter  ugliness,  but  they  even 
have  been  planted  tastelessly,  as  wind-breaks  rather  than 
as  trees.  They  were  largely  of  the  quick-growing  and 
short-lived  varieties.  Civic  landscape  requires  a  patient 
and  appreciative  sympathy  for  naturalness  and  harmony 
in  tree  forms,  which  is  pained  at  overcrowding  and 
the  mingling  of  incongruous  species.  The  vicious  hack- 
ing of  trees  by  electric  light  corporations  or  professional 
trimmers  is  a  most  flagrant  sin.  Even  when  formal 
pretence  at  professional  landscaping  is  made,  the  virtues 
of  simple  planting,  restrained  colour  schemes  and  the 
predominant  use  of  native  material  are  rare.  A  jury  of 
real  artists  were  moved  to  inextinguishable  laughter  at 
the  expensive  landscape  gardening  of  one  of  New  York's 
most  pretentious  suburbs;  they  derided  its  clipped 
shrubbery  as  so  many  ' '  apple  dumplings. ' '  Taste  is  not 
cheaply  won  even  now  when  the  landscape  fashion 
plates  compete  with  fashions  in  dress  on  the  pages  of 
popular  magazines.  In  this  realm,  modesty  is  the  super- 
lative virtue,  and  of  this  virtue  the  little  town  has  al- 
most everything  to  learn.  Yet  perhaps  nowhere  would 
the  conquest  of  sham  and  pretence,  the  achievement  of 
essential  proportion  in  life,  and  the  dignified  acceptance 
of  the  little-town  lot  be  so  effectively  registered  as  in 
domestic  architecture  and  in  the  setting  of  trees.  They/ 
make  or  mar  the  peculiar  atmosphere  and  charm  of  the 
village  community. 

Home  and  Social  Life.  The  home  is  the  chief  me- 
dium of  social  intercourse  in  the  little  town.  The  club 
house  is  exceptional,  the  hotel  dinner  for  the  entertain- 


INSTITUTIONS  127 

mcnt  of  guests  rare.  Even  the  ladies'  parlour  in  the 
church  is  not  generally  adequate  for  the  sewing  and 
missionary  society,  nor  regularly  heated  in  winter. 
Churches  indeed  afford  some  housing  to  their  organiza- 
tions, and  the  lodges  have  their  halls;  yet  for  the  most 
part,  meetings,  entertainments,  parties  and  dances, 
which  constitute  the  chief  stream  of  social  life,  are  held 
from  house  to  house.  This  inclusion  of  society  within 
home  walls  largely  identifies  social  standards  with  home 
standards,  and  gives  the  home  compelling  advantage  in 
the  process  of  social  control  as  described  in  the  last  chap- 
ter. The  mistresses  of  the  home  are  the  censors  and 
leaders  alike  in  the  social  field,  and  the  better  and  the 
worst  are  in  their  hands.  When  social  life  reaches  the 
club-house  stage,  as  in  the  city,  it  is  taken  for  granted 
that  it  will  be  regularly  planned  and  organized.  Plan 
and  organization  are  equally  necessary,  while  it  remains 
in  the  house-to-house  stage.  A  constructive  attitude 
toward  social  activities  in  the  little  town  will  mitigate 
and  largely  remove  most  of  its  evils  of  flashiness,  snob- 
bery and  the  cheap  aping  of  city  ways. 

BETTER    SCHOOLS 

The  second  great  institutional  possibility  of  the  little 
town  is  school  improvement.  This  must  be  both  in- 
tensive, pertaining  to  the  school's  spirit,  internal  organi- 
zation and  methods;  and  extensive,  expressing  its  out- 
reach into  the  life  of  the  community. 

Adaptation  to  Childhood  and  Youth.  Avoiding 
pedagogical  technicalities,  the  short  way  of  stating  the 
new  life  and  spirit  which  has  come  over  the  American 
school  is  to  say  that  it  is  based  in  a  better  appreciation 


128  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

of  child  life.  This  involves  not  only  the  adaptation  of 
school  methods  to  the  natural  stages  of  human  develop- 
ment— infancy,  childhood  and  youth,  with  their  crises 
and  minor  phases — but  particularly  the  recognition  of 
a  multitude  of  interests  and  incentives  not  recognized 
in  the  older  school  practice.  "If  the  school  must 
choose  between  schoolhouse  and  playground,"  says 
Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson,  "let  it  choose  the  playground." 
Even  the  smallest  school  should  in  its  measure  minister 
to  the  entire  life  of  its  pupils  in  each  stage  of  their 
expanding  powers. 

Vocational  Definiteness.  The  second  great  field  of 
the  internal  improvement  of  school  life  is  its  growing 
vocational  definiteness.  This  is  the  strong  point  of  the 
rural-life  educational  propaganda.  It  proposes  to  teach 
country  boys  not  only  in  the  terms  of  country  life,  but 
largely  through  its  experiences,  giving  the  school  the 
visible  environment  which  education  is  to  interpret,  and 
making  better  farming  the  test  of  its  educational  suc- 
cess. 

A  School  Program  for  the  Little  Town.  The  school 
program  of  the  little  town  is  all  this  and  more.  The 
insistence  of  this  book  upon  the  essential  identity  of  the 
interests  of  the  small  centre  and  open  country,  enables 
it  enthusiastically  to  agree  that  the  town  high  school 
should  have  its  ample  garden  plots,  its  orchard,  barns 
and  stock,  and  if  possible,  its  small  farm.  In  the  smaller 
village  it  is  possible  to  have  these  newer  school  facilities 
in  immediate  conjunction  with  the  school  building.  In 
the  larger  little-town,  the  physical  difficulties  are  greater 
but  the  resources  are  also  better,  and  the  problem  of  dis- 
tance must  be  met  by  some  arrangement  for  the  trans- 


INSTITUTIONS  12'J 

portation  of  pupils.  The  farm  with  its  various  branches 
of  agriculture  and  its  kitchens  and  shops  is  not  an  ad- 
junct of  the  school  but  a  vital  centre  of  the  essential 
school  process.  It  is  through  these  activities  that  the 
most  convincing  teaching  is  secured. ^  But  the  little 
town's  school  cannot  stop  here.  Its  vocational  adapta- 
tion must  extend  to  all  its  people.  It  must  train  those 
who  are  to  buy  from  and  sell  to  the  farmers.  Nothing 
can  be  better  for  the  future  merchants  and  professional 
men  than  to  be  educated  in  the  closest  sympathy  with 
rural  life;  but  the  technical  demands  of  their  vocations 
must  also  be  met.  Furthermore,  as  has  been  previously 
urged,  the  little  town  is  bound  to  have  a  surplus  popula- 
tion, for  which  neither  it  nor  its  surrounding  country 
has  room.  Its  education  must  furnish  scope  and  out- 
look also  to  its  young  people  who  will  go  and  ought  to 
go  to  the  city.  Many  of  them  will  go  by  way  of  college 
and  the  professional  school,  and  necessary  preparations 
for  these  institutions  must  be  provided.  Thus  three  per- 
fectly definite  vocational  emphases  are  necessary.  The 
well-balanced  school  of  a  little  town  will  provide  all 
three.  The  educational  systems  of  the  most  progressive 
states  already  make  this  possible,  and  state  agencies  and 
subsidies  are  available  in  many  of  them,  especially  for 
the  agricultural  adaptation  of  education. 

Community  Service.  In  its  outreach  toward  the 
community,  the  school  must  extend  itself  to  match  the 
entire  geographical  community  and  to  serve  all  ages  and 
all  classes  of  its  people.  How  these  demands  maj'  be 
met  on  a  modest  scale  appears  in  the  ease  of  a  small 
Wisconsin  high  school  as  summarized  in  a  Bulletin  of 

2  Cubberley,  "Rural  Life  and  Education,"  p.  278  f. 


130  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  State  University.  "In  1906  a  literary  society  was 
organized  among  the  alumni  of  the  high  school  at  Sauk 
City,  an  incorporated  village  of  900  people,  with  meet- 
ings attended  by  the  students  and  a  few  adults.  This 
grew  into  a  vigorous  meeting,  by  the  assistance  of  the 
school  teachers,  held  every  two  weeks,  with  programs 
filled  with  'everybody  that  could  talk,  sing,  play,  or 
dance.'  This  became  a  platform  for  the  coming  out  of 
anybody  who  was  found  to  have  a  special  gift.  Feature 
programs  were  popular.  The  'German  program'  was  a 
great  success.  Then  'outside'  speakers  were  introduced. 
Concerts  were  given.  Some  money  was  made  and 
'things  began  to  be  done.'  At  this  point  the  literary 
society  was  transformed  into  'The  Sauk  City  Social 
Center,'  and  the  organization  largely  officered  by  the 
business  men."  The  recent  community  activities  of  the 
school  are  outlined  as  follows:  a  lecture  course,  the 
school  board  assisting  financially;  a  series  of  cooking 
lessons  and  demonstrations  for  the  women  of  the  com- 
munity, attended  by  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  varying 
in  ages  from  sixteen  to  sixty  years ;  a  play  centre,  made 
possible  by  an  appropriation  of  $100  for  playground  ap- 
paratus; literary  society  meetings,  continued  as  at  the 
beginning;  a  community  institute,  held  in  co-operation 
with  the  Extension  Division  of  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin, and  consisting  of  a  four-day  school  particularly 
on  the  problems  of  public  health  and  recreation  with 
reference  to  village  and  farm  homes.  This  institute 
was  conducted  by  University  professors  and  state  special- 
ists at  a  cost  of  $225,  and  was  largely  attended  by  farm- 
ers from  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles.  The  Sauk  City 
school  claims  the  following  definite  results  from  its  ex- 


INSTITUTIONS  131 

tension  work;  (1)  creation  of  a  community  conscious- 
ness; (2)  street  improvement;  (3)  a  clean-up  day;  (4) 
certain  dubious  practices  in  village  halted;  (5)  Memorial 
Day  rehabilitated;  (6)  a  woman's  club  formed  to  aid  the 
"Social  Centre"  enterprises.' 

Community  Service  on  a  Larger  Scale.  An  aggres- 
sive town  high  school  reports  that  its  plant  and  facili- 
ties have  been  put  at  the  service  of  eight  voluntary  so- 
cial agencies  of  the  community.  Organizations  for 
charity,  health,  music  culture  and  civic  improvement 
have  their  headquarters  in  its  building.  It  houses  a 
community  library  and  is  the  civic  hall  for  popular  en- 
tertainments and  community  business.  It  summarizes 
distinct  civic  gains  through  its  initiative  within  the 
last  five  years  as  follows:  the  landscaping  of  the  ceme- 
tery; the  campaign  for  painting  the  houses  of  the  com- 
munity according  to  a  unified  colour  scheme  worked  out 
by  the  art  department  of  the  high  school;  a  new  park 
and  band  house;  paving  and  anti-tuberculosis  move- 
ments ;  and  the  initiation  of  campaigns  for  playgrounds 
and  for  a  system  of  municipal  garbage  collection. 

Schools  for  Special  Classes  of  the  Population.  Beside 
such  varied  non-scholastic  service  of  tlie  community,  the 
little  town  cannot  escape  its  measure  of  the  necessity 
which  impels  the  city  to  provide  so  extensive  and  ap- 
pealing an  array  of  schools  for  special  classes  of  the 
population, — continuation  and  vocational  schools  for 
child  labourers,  classes  for  teaching  English  to  adult 
foreigners,  out-of-door  schools  for  tubercular  children, 
and  special  instruction  for  retarded,  delinquent  and 
other  atypical  pupils.     The  larger  little  town,  at  least, 

s  Wisconsin  Bulletin  No.  234,  pp.  13-14. 


132  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

may  have  some  simple  form  of  continuation  school  for 
children  who  drop  out  prematurely  to  go  to  work.  It 
may  do  something  for  its  illiterate  adults.  Within  a 
few  years  the  "Moonlight  School"  movement  which 
opened  the  school  doors  principally  to  their  large  popu- 
lation of  belated  white  citizens,  has  run  like  wildfire 
over  the  Southern  states,  and  brought  motley  scores  and 
hundreds  of  seamed  and  soiled  workers  to  first  acquaint- 
ance with  the  primer  and  spelling  book.  Nothing  more 
romantic  and  pathetic  has  broken  upon  the  educational 
world  since  the  first  thronging  of  contraband  slaves  to 
the  Freedmen's  schools  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 
As  to  atypical  children,  their  relatively  small  numbers 
and  the  simplicity  of  little-town  conditions  permit  in- 
dividual attention  to  all  but  the  more  flagrant  cases, — 
and  these  require  the  care  and  expert  handling  of  a 
state  institution. 

The  Town  School  and  the  Larger  Community.  Of 
course,  in  the  light  of  previous  study  of  the  community 
as  composed  of  town  centre  and  surrounding  an<i  depen- 
dent rural  area,  even  a  good  town  school  is  not  fully  good 
unless  it  is  somehow  effectively  related  to  all  the  people 
of  all  the  larger  community.  Recent  movements  of  edu- 
cational reorganization  which  make  this  increasingly  pos- 
sible, are  elaborated  in  another  connection. 

BETTER   CHURCHES 

The  little  town  can  have  better  churches.  Like  the 
schools,  they  need  internal  reorganization, — and  they 
must  have  social  redirection  in  order  to  render  effective 
community  service. 

Simplification     and     Correlation.    The     church    of 


INSTITUTIONS  133 

twenty-five  years  ago  inherited  a  venerable  and  rela- 
tively simple  set  of  traditional  activities, — preaching 
services,  revivals  and  prayer  meetings;  the  Sunday 
School  and  two  or  three  alternatives  in  children's  or- 
ganizations,— mission  or  temperance  bands  or  Bands 
of  Mercy;  the  "Aid  Society"  or  some  such  association 
of  women  for  friendliness,  finance  and  philanthropy. 
Since  that  day,  the  religious  world  has  fairly  staggered 
under  the  multiplicity  and  rapid  succession  of  new  ideas 
and  devices.  The  Sunday  School  has  become  graded. 
Church  architecture  has  evolved  to  at  least  a  third  stage. 
The  Cadets  have  yielded  to  the  Knights,  the  Knights 
to  the  Scouts  and  the  athletic  team.  Budget  and  finan- 
cial systems  have  been  created.  These  all  are  social 
inventions  attempting  to  adjust  religious  methods  to 
the  natural  unfolding  of  human  powers  and  interests, 
and  to  the  modern  impulse  for  efficiency.  The  genetic 
viewpoint  has  given  a  new  psychology  to  school  and 
church  alike.  Each  has  consequently  a  new  pedagogy 
with  a  train  of  experimental  methods  and  organizations. 
In  the  school  it  has  given  rise  to  acute  problems  of  cor- 
relation, of  the  adjustment  of  the  new  to  the  old,  of  in- 
ternal reorganization.  In  the  church  identical  causes 
necessarily  created  essentially  like  problems.  The  local 
parish  at  first  imitativel}^  adopted  one  novel  scheme  and 
device  after  another.  They  culminated  in  an  aggrega- 
tion and  clutter  of  imperfectly  related  organizations  and 
movements  which  clogged  the  wheels  of  church  work  in 
the  smaller  communities.  Next  the  demand  for  effi- 
ciency intervened,  and  sought  again  to  sense  the  prim- 
ary aims  of  the  church,  to  reduce  the  perplexing  variety 
of  new  agencies  to  system  around  a  few  central  ideals, 


134  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

to  standardize  the  new  methods  and  reduce  them  to 
scale  so  as  to  fit  communities  of  different  sizes  and 
types.  Finally,  there  has  emerged,  in  fairly  clear  out- 
line, the  concrete  picture  of  a  good  town  church. 

The  Modern  Sunday  School.  Such  a  church  must 
take  itself  seriously  as  an  agency  of  religious  education. 
As  a  social  institution  it  has  a  continuous  educational 
function  to  perform  with  respect  to  the  children  of  the 
community.  Generation  after  generation  will  receive 
or  fail  to  receive  an  essential  part  of  their  culture  and 
moral  outfitting  just  in  proportion  as  the  church  is 
faithful  and  efficient  at  this  task.  It  is  a  task  with  a 
highly  technical  aspect,  yet  one  which  the  resources  of 
the  little  town  can  master.  Virtually  all  the  problems 
of  the  modern  Sunday  School  have  now  been  sifted 
and  re-formulated  within  the  little-town  scale  of  ac- 
complishment. The  more  progressive  denominations 
have  set  forth  standards  of  excellence  and  grant  recogni- 
tion to  schools  in  proportion  as  they  are  realized.  Some 
attempt  to  assign  precise  values  to  the  different  ele- 
ments of  a  successful  school,  as  in  the  following  example : 

THE  PILGRIM  STANDARD— MISSOURI  EDITION 


"That  the  man  of  God  may  be  complete,  furnished  completely 
unto  every  good  work." 

I.         Educational  Committee  6% 

To  supervise  and  correlate  the  educational 
work  of  the  church. 

XL       Attendance  20% 

Membership — 20%  increase  6% 


INSTITUTIONS  135 

Average  attendance — 15%  increase  8% 

Average  attendance — 75%  of  membership  6% 
III.      Church  Attendance  10% 

Should  be  65%  of  the  membership  of  the 
Sunday  School  above  the  First  year 
Primary. 
rV".       Organization  10% 

Pupils  Graded,  i.e.,  grouped  in  yearly 
grades,  and  in  classes  which  form 
natural  units  2% 

Departments;  Grades  grouped  in  Depart- 
ments, viz.,  Beginners,  Primarj',  Jun- 
ior, Intermediate,  Senior,  Adult,  Ex- 
tension Departments;  Cradle  Roll 
and  Home  Department  3% 

Annual  Promotion  from  grade  to  grade, 
graduation  into  Senior  or  Adult  De- 
partments upon  completion  of  a  re- 
quired course  of  study  1% 

Organized    classes.     See    organized    Class 

Literature  3% 

Complete  and  permanent  records  of  the 

school  and  of  each  pupil  1% 

V.      Administration  10% 

Work  of  school  unified  imder 

(a)  Executive  Head  2% 

(b)  Head  of  Instruction  2% 

(c)  Heads  of  Departments  2% 
A  teacher  for  each  class  or  grade  2% 
Workers'   Conferences  regularly   held  2% 

VL      Instruction  14%^ 

Graded  Lessons,  including  9% 

(a)  Instruction  in  Temperance  2% 

(b)  In  Missions  3% 
And  in  each  case  adapted  to  the  grades. 


136  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

VII.  Training  10% 

In  service,  a  program  for  putting  the 
truth  into  life  including  religious 
habits,  personal  work,  social  service    5% 

In  worship,  a  program  for  training  in 
worship,  including  suitable  material, 
a  reverent  atmosphere,  and  acts  of 
worship  5% 

VIII.  Teacher  Training  10% 

For  those  who  are  teaching  and  those  who 
are  preparing  to  teach  either  in  Nor- 
mal classes,  or  by  some  form  of  indi- 
vidual work. 

IX.  Equipment  5% 

Class   rooms  or  allotted   spaces  for  each 

class  and  department  1% 

Teachers'  Libraries  2% 

Suitable  chairs,  tables,  blackboards, 
Bibles,  sand-tables,  also  pictures, 
maps,  models,  stereographs  2% 

X.  Benevolence  5% 

Including  a   contribution   to   each   of  the 

seven    (or  eight)  societies.  

Total  100% 

An  effective  school  leads  its  pupils  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  into 
the  membership  of  the  church. 


Going  beyond  the  ordinary  Sunday  School  hours,, 
typical  little-town  conditions  are  exceptionally  favour- 
able for  the  enlarged  work  of  the  church  in  religious 
education.  Considerable  numbers  of  the  people,  es- 
pecially of  women,  have  relative  leisure;  homogeneity 
of  population  is  the  rule ;  there  is  ordinarily  a  tradition 
favourable  to  religion.     These  conditions  would  enable 


INSTITUTIONS  137 

the  churches  of  smaller  communities  to  make  good  use 
of  week  day  opportunity  for  religious  instruction  as 
afforded  by  the  Gary  plan.  Except  for  their  general 
laxness  with  respect  to  all  institutions  the  little  town 
might  easily  have  the  most  effective  Sunday  Schools  in 
America.  It  is  significant  that  already  in  states  where 
such  towns  are  most  influential,  the  tendency  to  give 
public  school  credit  for  standardized  Bible  study  under 
church  auspices  has  gone  farthest. 

Internal  Unification  of  the  Local  Church.  A  second 
marked  advance  of  internal  reorganization  is  reached  by 
integrating  all  pari.sh  activities  within  one  program, 
and  especially  by  grouping  all  its  organizations  about 
the  Sunday  School  as  the  centre.  This  follows  from 
the  fact  that  the  Sunday  School  is  already  the  broad- 
est and  soundest  phase  of  church  life.  It  is  organized 
in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  human  nature  as  it  un- 
folds in  childhood,  youth  and  manhood,  and  thus  con- 
tains the  principle  of  organization  for  the  whole  range 
of  church  interests.  It  concerns  the  deepest  things  of 
life.  Naturally,  therefore,  it  is  the  proper  centre  for 
all  types  of  minor  organization  which  the  broadening 
interests  of  the  age  have  developed.  Such  a  plan  of 
internal  unification  is  the  remedy  for  the  two  chief 
organic  weaknesses  particularly  of  the  little  town  church. 
On  the  one  hand  it  has  been  a  victim  of  personal  selfish- 
ness which  frequently  held  the  major  church  officers,  the 
prayer  meeting,  sewing  circle  and  peculiarly  the  choir, 
in  the  perpetual  possession  of  some  family  or  petty 
clique,  and  kept  them  in  high-handed  independence  of 
the  church  of  which  they  were  supposed  to  be  part. 
This  is  prevented  by  compelling  all  organizations  to  be- 


138  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

come  parts  of  one  enterprise.  Such  a  plan  solves  at  the 
same  time  the  embarrassment  caused  by  so  many  new 
organizations — the  religious  fads  of  the  moment.  Each 
as  it  appears  finds  room  for  itself  within  the  compre- 
hensive framework  of  existing  organizations.  Thus  the 
Boy  Scout  Movement  has  very  largely  been  received 
within  the  life  of  the  churches — especially  the  smaller 
ones — as  an  adjunct  of  the  Sunday  School.  In  its  com- 
plete development,  the  ideal  of  parochial  organization 
would  be  to  include  in  one  progressive,  pedagogic,  effi- 
cient, and  above  all  one  vital  and  interesting  process, 
all  the  interests  of  all  its  members  all  of  the  time.  Or- 
ganizations of  childhood,  youth  and  adulthood,  both  for 
men  and  women,  would  be  distinct  yet  would  all  func- 
tion together.  The  wide-spread  effort  toward  this  ideal 
is  the  most  outstanding  phenomenon  of  internal  recon- 
struction in  the  modern  church. 

Standardizing  the  Local  Church.  So  definite  and  so 
generally  accepted  is  this  movement  that  denominational 
bodies  here  and  there  are  setting  forth  standards  of  ex- 
cellence for  local  parishes  which  for  precision  and  detail 
make  a  new  epoch  in  religious  life.  A  good  church  is 
set  forth  in  concrete  description  just  as  the  functions 
and  proportions  of  an  ideal  human  body  might  be.  One 
can  see  what  each  part  is  for  and  how  they  are  related 
to  one  another.  Effective  machinery  urges  approved 
methods  upon  the  local  church ;  comprehensive  organiza- 
tion brings  them  home  to  the  remotest  community.  Par- 
ticularly is  the  part  of  each  local  church  in  the  world- 
wide enterprise  of  Christian  missions  reduced  to  precise 
definition.  Virtually  every  important  Protestant  de- 
nomination now  has  its  ' '  apportionment  plan ' '  for  benev- 


INSTITUTIONS  139 

olence,  whereby  the  total  denominational  aim  is  divided 
and  subdivided  until  the  share  of  the  local  congrej^ation 
is  reached.  Then  the  standardized  "every  member  can- 
vass" seeks  to  reach  the  last  individual  with  his  financial 
responsibility.  Much  of  the  identical  talent  which 
mobilizes  and  controls  the  great  industries  and  com- 
mercial activities  of  the  nation  has  been  made  available 
in  behalf  of  church  efficiency.  As  applied  to  the  church 
of  the  little  town,  these  sharply  efficient  methods  are  the 
necessary  corrective  of  the  ultra-personal  attitude  toward 
life  and  the  essential  contempt  for  institutions  which 
the  analysis  of  little-town  character  revealed.  Those 
who  decry  machinery,  fail  to  understand  what  tremen- 
dous vitality  of  motive  must  have  been  necessary  to  get 
matters  so  far  along  anywhere  in  so  conservative  an  in- 
stitution as  the  church.  They  say  well  who  insist  that 
it  will  require  a  mighty  spirit  within  the  wheels  before 
they  revolve  effectively  in  the  average  little  town.  The 
possibility,   however,   is  clearly   in  view  today. 

Community  Outreach.  The  problem  of  the  modern 
church  is  to  furnish  social  leadership  and  to  become,  in 
its  institutional  life  and  physical  facilities,  a  social 
centre  without  the  loss  of  any  of  its  ancient  graces, 
strength  and  glory.  It  is  already  one  of  the  larger 
educational  and  recreational  resources  of  considerable 
groups  of  the  people  of  the  average  little  town  and  it 
needs  to  perfect  its  service  in  these  respects  and  to  extend 
it  to  the  entire  community. 

The  One-church  Community.  Manifestly  this  service 
is  easiest  of  realization  when  there  is  but  one  church  in  a 
community.  Not  only  are  such  churches  without  sec- 
tarian rivals,  but  there  is  no  other  institution  to  com- 


140  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

pete  with  them.  When  it  is  recalled  that  half  of  the  en- 
tire little-town  group  have  populations  of  five  hundred 
inhabitants  or  less,  the  immense  opportunity  of  the 
church  as  a  social  centre  will  be  realized.  Statistical 
evidence  re-enforces  the  case.  The  larger  denominations 
of  the  State  of  Vermont  are  giving  sixty  per  cent,  of 
their  missionary  aid  to  churches  which  stand  alone  and 
without  rivals  in  their  communities.  For  the  country 
at  large,  no  one  has  counted  the  number  of  these  incom- 
plete civic  centres,  each  with  its  single  neighbourhood 
church.  The  modest  social  service  which  some  of  these 
churches  report  becomes  conspicuous  only  when  it  is 
remembered  that  anything  done  in  a  community  of  that 
size  must  necessarily  be  modest,  and  farther  that  through 
traditionalism,  many  of  them  do  not  feel  that  it  is  part 
of  religious  service  to  do  such  things  at  all.  The  Free 
Baptist  church  at  Honey  Creek,  Wis.,  for  example,  has 
erected  a  people's  hall  adjoining  its  house  of  worship. 
The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of  that  church  raised  one  thou- 
sand dollars  of  its  cost,  the  remainder  being  secured 
by  popular  subscription.  Then  the  community  vote  put 
the  control  of  the  enterprise  into  the  hands  of  the  church 
trustees.  It  reports  the  following  activities:  Ladies' 
meetings, — an  "Aid  Society"  gathering  women  from  a 
hundred  farm  homes  twice  a  month  for  a  day  of  sewing 
and  sociability;  a  winter  course  of  lectures  and  enter- 
tainments under  a  standard  bureau ;  local  talent  enter- 
tainments, including  dramatics;  free  use  of  the  hall  for 
charitable  purposes;  rental  of  hall  for  other  wholesome 
community  interests;  farmers'  institute  gatherings.* 
The  author's  first  pastorate  was  in  a  one-church  com- 

4  Wisconsin  Bulletin  No.  234,  pp.  26-27. 


INSTITUTIONS  141 

muiiity  in  which  the  social  interests  of  all  the  people 
have  been  identical  with  their  church  life  from  the  be- 
ginning. The  plain  white  meeting  house  has  long  since 
given  way  to  a  commodious  modorn  structure  but  remains 
in  use  as  the  community  hall  for  entertainments  and 
social  life  of  the  youth.  Such  a  program  is  easily 
within  the  power  of  any  village  with  but  a  single  church, 
and  is  notable  only  because  there  are  village  churches 
by  the  thousands  with  no  glimmer  of  consciousness  that 
anything  of  the  sort  is  to  be  expected  of  them. 

The  Church  of  the  Socially-Minded.  Except  for  the 
added  weight  which  it  has  to  carry  by  reason  of  others' 
inertia,  the  case  is  similar  with  the  town  which  has  but 
one  live  church.  Human  partisanship  may  question  as  to 
what  con.stitutcs  a  live  church  and  which  of  two  or  more 
candidates  shall  be  recognized  as  such.  In  a  Minnesota 
instance,  the  business  men  forced  the  issue  and  com- 
pelled a  community  referendum  as  to  which  of  rival 
churches  was  to  survive, — then  united  in  its  support 
and  ignored  the  other.  Where  inertia  and  traditional- 
ism are  intrenched  it  will  not  do  to  let  the  community 
suffer  indefinitely.  Some  one  church  must  see  the  vision 
and  point  the  way,  gathering  to  its  support  all  the 
socially-minded  elements  of  populations.  Such  is  the 
church  at  Wibaux,  ]\Iont.,  which  dedicated  in  1914  a 
community  parish  hou.se  open  to  all  residents  of  the 
town  and  managed  by  a  board  of  representative  directors. 
It  offers  a  wide  range  of  community  features;  reading 
room,  game  room,  rest  and  comfort  rooms  for  country 
people;  also  a  gymnasium  and  baths  available  under 
proper  regulation  for  men,  women  and  children.  Boys' 
athletics,  the  various  activities  of  voluntary  clubs,  and 


142  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

community  amusement  and  educational  features  are  car- 
ried on.  Thus  in  a  frontier  community  the  best  modern 
possibilities  of  the  church  are  being  realized  almost  from 
the  start.  A  farmers'  institute  and  a  business  men's 
banquet  were  held  in  connection  with  the  dedication 
of  the  community  house,  thus  expressing  this  church's 
interest  both  in  town  and  open  country.  The  scope  and 
vigour  of  its  ideals  speak  still  more  exaltedly  in  the 
words  of  its  service  of  dedication  which  constitute  a 
sort  of  classic  of  the  social  spirit  of  religion: 

Minister: — To  the  glory  of  God,  our  Father,  by  whose  favour 
we  have  built  this  house;  To  the  honour  of  Jesus,  the 
Christ,  our  Lord  and  Saviour;  To  the  praise  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  source  of  life  and  light ; 

Congregation: — We  dedicate  this  house. 

Minister: — With  the  prayer  that  this  building  may  ever  stand 
for  the  great  things  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  a  testimony 
to  the  grace  and  glory  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  a  centre  of 
holy  life  and  hiunane  service  to  all  needy  lives  of  this 
community. 

Congregation: — We  dedicate  this  house. 

Minister : — That  it  may  minister  to  the  betterment  of  the  home, 
to  the  protection  of  childhood,  to  the  purity  of  boyhood, 
to  the  modesty  of  maidenhood,  to  the  holiness  of  woman- 
hood, to  the  nobleness  of  manhood. 

Congregation: — We  dedicate  this  house. 

Minister: — For  the  fraternal  union  of  all  people  in  this  com- 
munity, for  the  nurture  of  a  closer  Christian  fellowship 
among  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren who  shall  meet  here;  Children  of  one  God,  bound 
together  in  the  same  commonwealth,  makers  of  one  divine 
democracy, 

Congregation: — We  dedicate  this  house. 


INSTITUTIONS  143 

Minister: — For  the  cultivation  of  a  truly  Christian  social  life 
in  the  community,  for  the  promotion  of  a  human  brother- 
hood based  on  the  divine  Fatherliood,  for  the  utilization 
of  every tliinj;-  in  art  and  literature  that  elevate  and  refine 
and  sweeten  human  life, 

Congregation: — We  dedicate  this  house. 

Minister: — P^'or  the  enlightenment  of  the  mind,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  conscience,  for  the  salvation  of  the  life,  for  the 
perfecting  of  our  whole  being,  body,  mind  and  soul, 

Congregation: — We  dedicate  this  house. 

The  Over-Churched  Community.  Towns  which  ought 
to  have  but  one  church  and  are  afflicted  with  more  now 
have  an  appeal  to  the  resources  of  interdenominational 
co-operation  which  are  strikingly  developing.^  Matters 
may  be  mended  by  one  of  the  several  eliminating  methods 
now  current.  The  oldest  method  was  that  of  the  union 
church,  uniting  Christians  of  all  branches  locally,  but 
itself  belonging  to  no  denomination.  Such  churches 
became  so  numerous  in  Massachusetts  that  they  began  to 
meet  together  for  mutual  profit  and  satisfaction,  and 
bade  fair  to  become  just  another  denomination.  It  is 
agreed  by  most  of  those  seeking  to  mitigate  denom- 
inationalism  that  the  union  church  is  not  the  best  way. 
The  second  method  is  that  of  local  federation  whereby 
two  or  more  congregations  come  together  in  one  organ- 
ization with  common  place  of  worship  and  under  one 
pastor,  at  the  same  time  maintaining  the  corporate  iden- 
tity and  denominational  allegiance  of  each.  In  such 
cases  their  benevolent  funds  are  usually  divided  between 

5  See  Christian  Unity  at  Work,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 
of  Chri.'^t  in  America,  1013;  Douglass.  The  yetc  Home  Missions, 
Ch.  VII;  Statement  of  Principles,  ete..  Home  Missions  Council  of 
Western  Washington,  323  New  York  Block,  Seattle,  Wash. 


144  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  different  denominations.  Sometimes  a  pastorate  of 
limited  tenure  has  been  devised,  so  as  to  assure  rotation 
in  office  between  ministers  of  the  different  federated 
faiths. 

Denominationalism  Without  Its  Evils.  By  far  the 
strongest  tendency  now-a-days,  however,  is  the  exchange 
of  fields  between  the  denominations,  so  that  over- 
churched  communities  are  relieved,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  remaining  church  of  each  stands  in  full  and  normal 
denominational  fellowship  with  some  one  group  of  be- 
lievers. Many  hundreds  of  such  *' swaps"  have  taken 
place  between  denominations  within  the  last  five  years. 
The  union  church  is  either  an  orphan  or  else  tends  to 
become  simply  an  additional  denomination;  the  fed- 
erated church  is  a  hybrid,  and  lacks  in  normal  vitality; 
but  the  denominational  church  which  is  created  by  the 
mutual  surrender  of  fields  leaves  a  local  congregation 
in  unimpaired  relation  to  some  distinct  and  effective 
body  of  Christians  organized  for  the  world-wide  work 
of  missions,  and  committed  to  the  support  of  great 
social  projects.  Vast  interests  are  in  the  hands  of  the 
progressive  denominations.  Yet  there  is  no  denomina- 
tion left  which  is  not  thoroughly  mixed  as  to  member- 
ship. The  constituency  of  all  of  them  is  composed  of 
people  formerly  connected  with  dozens  of  different  de- 
nominations. Matters  of  theology  and  church  policy 
are  less  divisive  than  formerly.  There  is  no  reason 
why  effective  ecclesiastical  machinery  should  not  re- 
divide  large  areas  of  country  between  the  denomina- 
tions, thus  eliminating  duplication  and  adding  strength 
to  each. 

The  Larger  Parish.    A  capital  case  of  this  tendency 


INSTITUTIONS  145 

is  that  of  Benzie  County,  Michigan,  where  half  the 
county,  constituting  a  natural  social  unit  with  a  little 
town  at  its  centre,  has  been  unified  under  the  religious 
leadership  of  the  Benzonia  Congregational  Church. 
Happy  exchanges  for  more  strategic  points  removed 
two  Methodist  churches  from  the  district.  The  Ben- 
zonia community  has  come  not  only  to  a  sense  of  com- 
mercial affiliation,  but  to  one  of  religious  respon.sibility 
for  leadership  in  its  tributary  area.  There  is  a  staff  of 
pastors  serving  the  four  organized  Congregational 
churches  under  a  unified  administration,  and  eight  other 
regular  places  of  religious  and  social  service  are  main- 
tained largely  through  the  voluntary  activities  of  laymen 
of  the  church.  The  activities  of  this  "larger  parish" 
are  outlined  by  the  pastor.  Rev.  H.  S.  Mills,  as  follows: 

1.  Benzonia  Village,  Benzonia  Township.  Church 
Organization,  Church  Building,  Morning  Service  every 
Sunday.  Sunday  School,  Christian  Endeavour  Society, 
Woman's  Missionary  Society,  Weekly  Prayer  Meeting, 
Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

2.  Beulah  Village,  Benzonia  Township.  Chapel. 
Evening  Service  every  Sunday,  Sunday  School,  Ladies' 
Aid  Society. 

3.  Eden,  Benzonia  Township.  Church  Organization, 
Schoolhouse  (Chapel,  1914).  Evening  Service  every 
Sunday,  Sunday  School,  Christian  Endeavour  Society, 
Weekly  Prayer  Meeting,  Neighbourhood  Club,  Ladies' 
Social  Circle. 

4.  Champion  Hill,  Homestead  Township.  Church  Or- 
ganization, Chapel.  Morning  Service  every  Sunday, 
Christian  Endeavour  Society. 

5.  Piatt  Lake,   Benzonia  Township.     Chapel.     After- 


146  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

noon  Service  on  alternate  Sundays.     Ladies'  Aid   So- 
ciety. 

6.  North  Crystal,  Benzonia  Township.  Private  Home 
(Chapel,  1914).  Afternoon  Service  on  alternate  Sun- 
days, Sunday  School,  Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

8.  Demerley,  Joytield  Township.  Schoolhouse.  Aft- 
ernoon Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Sunday  School. 

9.  South  Chapel,  Benzonia  Township.  Chapel.  Eve- 
ning Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Sunday  School. 

10.  East  Joyfield,  Joytield  Township.  Chapel.  Eve- 
ning Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Sunday  School. 

11.  Liberty  Union,  Benzonia  Township.  Schoolhouse. 
Afternoon  Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Neighbourhood 
Club. 

12.  South  Elberta,  Gilmore  Township.  Schoolhouse. 
Sunday  School." 

Organizing  Denominationalism  for  Team  Play.  In 
the  larger  little  towns,  however,  denominationalism  is  a 
factor  to  be  reckoned  with  for  a  long  time  yet.  It  is 
important,  therefore,  to  note  what  can  be  done  in  adapt- 
ing denominationalism  to  the  community  outlook.  One 
of  the  easiest  ways  is  to  recognize  that  some  forms  of 
community  service  are  based  both  on  emulation  and  the 
co-operation  of  small  units.  In  the  Boy  Scout  movement, 
for  example,  each  town  church  may  well  have  its  scout 
troop.  A  recent  article  in  Association  Men  asserts  that 
the  churches,  colleges  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s  are  the  dom- 
inating factors  in  athletics  in  America,  and  concludes 
"that  in  the  long  run  the  church  will  have  the  greatest 
influence  of  all  because  it  has  the  largest  number  of  units 
in  communities  all  over  the  country. ' '     It  further  asserts 

6  Mills,  "The  Making  of  a  Country  Parish." 


INSTITUTIONS  147 

that  the  churches  are  more  federated  in  athcltics  than 
they  are  in  any  other  sphere.  The  competitive  element 
furnished  by  contests  between  church  and  Sunday  School 
teams  fits  in  exactly  with  the  organization  of  the  de- 
nominational church.'^ 

Organizing  Denominationalism  for  Work.  Team 
play  between  the  churches  is  no  novelty  in  other  realms 
than  athletics.  It  is  quite  the  usual  thing  for  the  little 
town  to  have  its  ministers'  union  (composed  of  pastors 
of  all  denominations),  which  acts  as  an  informal  clearing 
house  in  co-operative  enterprise  such  as  union  evan- 
gelistic services,  the  celebration  of  holidays,  law  enforce- 
ment campaigns,  and  familiar  union  movements  of  na- 
tional scope  like  Sunday  School  betterment.  As  the 
scope  of  social  vision  has  widened,  the  old  lecture  course 
maintained  hy  the  churches  has  often  developed  into  a 
constructive  recreational  plan;  the  anti-tobacco  and 
liquor  campaigns  into  measures  for  prevention  of  tuber- 
culosis and  other  contagious  diseases;  the  occasional 
union  Sunday  School  rally  into  a  permanent  community 
institute  for  the  training  of  Sunday  School  teachers, — 
who  happened  already  to  be  using  largely  identical  litera- 
ture, syndicated  by  several  denominations  but  issued  by 
each  under  its  own  imprint. 

Relieving  Competition.  Nevertheless  competitive 
rivalry  is  still  a  staggering  handicap  to  whole-souled 
community  service.  There  are  too  many  churches  for 
the  size  of  the  town,  each  struggling  to  live  and  each 
forced  by  the  struggle  to  self-protective  measures  not  in 
harmony  with  the  general  welfare.  The  most  revolu- 
tionary discovery  with  respect  to  this  situation  is  sim- 

7  Association  Men,  XLI,  p.  2. 


148  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

plicity  itself,  namely,  that  merely  adding  the  entire 
trade  area  of  the  little  town  to  its  field  of  religious 
service,  frequently  takes  off  the  competitive  pressure. 
There  are  too  many  churches  for  the  centre,  but  perhaps 
not  too  many  for  the  centre  with  its  surrounding  country. 
When  the  whole  community  is  contemplated,  and  the 
conception  of  the  scope  of  religion  modernized,  there  is 
often  work  enough  for  all  the  existing  organizations. 

The  Collegiate  Plan.  The  union  of  town  and  country 
churches  into  denominational  groups  under  common  ad- 
ministration, as  in  the  Benzonia  case,  is  the  first  step. 
Without  having  reached  the  proportions  of  a  general 
movement,  the  organization  of  such  groups  of  churches 
on  the  collegiate  plan  is  in  the  air.  Thus  Oregon  City, 
Oregon,  a  place  of  about  four  thousand  five  hundred 
people,  has  recently  seen  the  merging  of  three  outlying 
Congregational  churches  wdth  the  town  church  as  the 
"First  Congregational  Church  of  Oregon  City  and 
Vicinity."  Without  having  clearly  sensed  the  funda- 
mental basis  of  such  a  union  in  the  natural  community, 
the  movement  has  been  clear  about  its  practical  benefits. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Oregon  City  church  had  been 
the  mother  of  some  of  the  others  and  it  was  compara- 
tively easy  to  include  them  again  in  a  common  leader- 
ship. There  is  a  single  board  of  trustees  and  common 
ownership  of  all  property,  while  each  individual  con- 
gregation still  transacts  its  peculiar  local  business  and 
has  power  to  veto  with  respect  to  the  property  which  it 
occupies.  The  greatest  technical  advantage  of  the  plan 
is  that  it  permits  a  staff  of  pastors,  one  of  whom  in  this 
case  is  an  expert  in  young  people's  work.  Another 
might  well  be  a  community  leader  in  the  agricultural  or 


INSTITUTIONS  149 

vocational  adaptation  of  the  church's  message.  The 
basic  merit  of  the  plan  is,  however,  recognition  of  the 
identity  of  the  town  centre  and  surrounding  country  in 
community  fortunes. 

The  Sector  and  Zone  Plan.  Now  it  only  remains  for 
each  of  the  strong  denominations  which  has  a  church  in 
Oregon  City  to  organize  on  the  same  plan,  in  order  to 
cover  the  entire  natural  community  with  adequate  re- 
ligious organization.  Minor  readjustments  would  be 
necessary  and  could  easily  be  arranged  between  the  de- 
nominations which  are  accustomed  to  co-operate  along 
currently  recognized  lines.  It  might  be  found  that  no 
accidental  basis  existed  for  the  assignment  to  the  several 
denominational  groups  of  contiguous  fields.  More  than 
likely,  however,  the  outlying  churches  of  one  or  more 
of  the  groups  would  tend  to  occupy  definite  sectors  of 
the  enlarged  community.  Assume,  for  example,  an  aver- 
age trade  area  of  one  hundred  square  miles,  surround- 
ing a  Middle-TVestern  town  of  twenty-five  hundred 
people.  The  total  community  would  have  at  least  five 
thousand  population.  Assume  it  to  be  occupied  by  three 
to  five  leading  denominations,  represented  by  so  many 
churches  at  the  centre  and  a  considerable  group  of  rural 
churches.  Half  of  the  church-going  rural  population  of 
the  trade  area  is  already  cormected  with  town  churches 
(as  indicated  by  the  broken  lines  on  the  diagram). 
The  open-country  churches  which  serve  the  rest  are  sig- 
nificant]}^ located  in  the  debatable  trade  area  or  commer- 
cial "no  man's  land"  for  which  the  little  town  contends 
with  rivals.  To  carry  out  the  proposed  religious  reor- 
ganization the  following  steps  would  be  necessary — Be- 
ginning   at    the    town    centre,    the    Congregationalists, 


150 


THE  LITTLE  TOWN 


say,  would  find  all  of  their  churches  within  the 
ninety  degrees  of  the  circumference  of  the  trade  area 
lying  northward,  the  Methodists,  eastward,  the  Baptists, 
south.  Should  it  not  work  out  so  ideally,  exchanges  of 
fields  might  he  affected  in  the  now  familiar  manner,  so 


1 

ip 

'^^^^^^^ 

— —   BOVNOACIEJ     OF  TR.ADE  AttEA 

BOONOAIHEJ   OF  CHUa.CH  AB.EA 

^7777i  DEBATABLE     TR.ADE  AR-EA 

TR,ADE  AtEA  OF  B.IVAL  TOWfJ 
TR.AOE.  Aft-EAOF  HOrt^E  TOWM 
TOWN 
^       COUNTR.Y    CHUR-CHE^ 

Church  Relationships  of  a  Trade  Community. 


■^ 


that  finally  a  definite  sector  of  an  agreed  number  of 
degrees  would  belong,  from  centre  to  circumference,  to 
each  of  the  co-operating  churches  which  would  have  un- 
divided responsibility  for  upwards  of  one  thousand  souls. 
Its  radii  would  be  modified  to  follow  roads  or  natural 
boundaries,  but  ultimately  each  sector  would  come  to  be 


INSTITUTIONS  151 

a  recognized  parish  of  a  single  denomination  operating 
through  unified  or  federated  churches.  The  entire  area 
of  the  enlarged  community  would  be  occupied  by  as 
many  similar  parishes  as  there  were  co-operating 
churches  at  the  town  centre,  and  the  religious  needs  of 
the  entire  population  met  with  an  adequacy  never  yet 
dreamed.  Besides  this,  the  fundamental  social  basis  of 
all  the  higher  life  of  the  nautral  community  would  be 
recognized. 

Internal  Organization.  Each  sector  constituting  a 
denominational  parisli,  with  its  central  church  and  out- 
lying collegiate  organizations,  would  be  internally  organ- 
ized on  the  zone  plan.  The  unchurched  Black  Belt, 
marked  by  the  band  around  the  centre  just  between 
walking  and  riding  distance,  would  be  overcome  by  pro- 
vision of  some  regular  means  of  transportation  to  church 
and  Sunday  School  and  by  the  deliberate  quickening  of 
religious  allegiance.  The  churches  of  the  centre  would 
push  out  beyond  the  narrower  trade  area  and  try  to  asso- 
ciate all  the  country  churches  with  them.  This  would  be 
good  for  business  as  well  as  for  religious  efficiency.  Each 
country  church  would  be  brought  into  collegiate  or  fed- 
erated relation  with  the  central  denominational  church 
responsible  for  the  sector  within  which  it  falls.  The 
enlarged  supporting  area  together  with  the  quickened 
community  spirit  would  enable  them  to  afford  better  re- 
ligious leadership,  and  often  a  staff  of  ministers, 
together  with  adequate  means  for  their  transportation. 
Under  such  conditions,  the  country  would  have  as  good 
preaching  as  the  town  and  as  regularly;  and  what  is 
equally  important,  it  would  share  the  town's  recreational 
and  educational  experts.     The  rural  expert,  who  would 


152  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

be  an  essential  member  of  the  staff  of  the  denominational 
parish,  might  well  reside  in  one  of  the  outlying  com- 
munities; but  none  of  its  religious  leaders  would  feel 
that  he  belonged  more  or  less  to  the  centre  than  to  the 
open  country.  The  centre  would  still  be  a  centre  and 
would  be  used  by  the  rural  population  as  such,  but  with- 
out the  sense  of  remoteness,  alienation  or  inferiority. 
Denominationalism  would  be  utilized.  The  only  thing 
to  be  eliminated  would  be  the  scandal  of  a  non-resident 
rural  ministry  employed  on  the  three-hour-a-month  basis 
— and  paid  accordingly — ^whose  chief  interest  in  the  com- 
munity is  the  collections.  Ninety-two  per  cent,  of  rural 
ministers  in  a  Missouri  county  were  found  to  be  of  this 
class.  May  the  tribe  decrease!  It  is  fully  recognized 
that  the  above  scheme  has  all  the  weaknesses  of  any 
theoretical  reorganization  of  the  church,  but  it  is  be- 
lieved that  it  also  has  more  of  strength,  especially  since 
it  includes  existing  denominationalism,  while  at  the  same 
time  holding  fast  to  the  best  tendencies  of  social  unifica- 
tion and  insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  somehow  cover- 
ing the  entire  natural  community  with  an  effective  organ- 
ization of  religious  leadership  and  service. 

BETTER   REMEDIAL   INSTITUTIONS 

Another  institutional  possibility  of  the  little  town  is 
that  of  better  remedial  institutions.  The  relative  sim- 
plicity of  its  social  structure  and  its  limited  population 
should  allow  the  normal  play  of  its  positive  agencies  of 
betterment  to  prevent  most  of  the  causes  of  delinquency 
and  degeneracy.  Still  it  will  have  its  run-away  children, 
its  occasional  vagrant  and  feeble-minded  person,  who 
just  because  they  will  be  few  in  number  and  because  of 


INSTITUTIONS  153 

the  wealth  of  personal  ties  in  the  little  town,  will  often 
be  permanently  tolerated  in  the  community  when  every 
consideration  of  social  safety  requires  their  prompt  re- 
moval 

Abnonnal  Individuals  and  Degenerate  Stocks.  The 
variety  and  teclitiical  rcMiuircnients  necessary  for  the  care 
of  abnormal  people  is  far  beyond  the  little  town's  capac- 
ity. The  state  is  their  natural  custodian ;  yet  kindliness 
often  permits  the  epileptic  to  remain  as  a  town  curiosity 
and  deals  too  gently  with  the  truant  and  incipient  crim- 
inal. As  a  consequence,  the  degeneracy  often  charged 
— and  sometimes  proved — against  the  little  town  is  a  real 
and  imminent  peril.  Within  its  borders  natural  selection 
has  only  a  few  people  to  work  upon  ;  and  if  human  refuse 
is  tolerated  in  the  present  generation  it  will  surely  appear 
progressively  among  its  descendants.  The  kindest  policy 
possible  is  to  save  the  little  town  from  the  taint  of  vicious 
heredity  at  any  cost.  A  decided  stiffening  of  local  back- 
bone will  generally  be  necessary  to  secure  the  weeding 
out  of  the  fundamentally  unfit, — thus  preventing  what  is 
worse  than  contagious  disease,  and  far  more  dangerous 
than  fire. 

Simplified  System  in  Charity  and  Correction.  With 
respect  to  its  handful  of  unfortunate  or  aged  people,  the 
poor  whom  it  would  be  cruel  to  remove  from  their  homes, 
it  is  the  little  town's  business  to  see  that  such  cruelty  is 
not  necessary.  It  has,  however,  a  better  alternative  than 
the  general  pauperization  which  frequently  follows  from 
the  lax  administration  of  out-door  relief.  A  college  town 
in  the  Middle-West,  one  of  the  richest  in  its  state,  upon 
investigation  found  to  its  horror  that  a  preposterous  pro- 
portion  of  its   people    were   receiving    help    from    the 


154  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

county.  Among  them  were  included  families  of  average 
financial  ability  and  comfort.  The  whole  point  of  view 
had  become  radically  distorted.  "When  the  facts  were 
once  disclosed  their  vicious  character  was  apparent  to 
all.  As  a  result,  a  graduate  of  a  social  workers '  training 
course  was  secured  as  head  of  a  local  "social  service 
league."  She  was  made  truant  officer,  agent  for  the 
state  child-saving  organizations,  and  put  in  charge  of 
poor  relief  within  the  municipality.  In  this  latter  capac- 
ity her  support  was  furnished  by  the  county  officers. 
She  was  able  at  once  to  reduce  the  need  of  county  funds 
so  as  to  save  far  more  than  her  salary;  and  the  total 
cost  of  her  service  was  brought  within  the  financial  pos- 
sibilities of  thousands  of  little  towns.*  In  this  way  the 
entire  problem  of  delinquency  and  poverty  came  to  be 
handled  in  a  constructive  and  scientific  way.  A  similar 
organization  is  probably  needed  in  thousands  of  com- 
munities even  of  the  little-town  class. 

8  American  City,  X,  p.  161. 


VII 
THE  TOWN'S  POSSIBILITIES:  IDEALS 

THE  REALM   OF   NEWER  POSSIBILITIES 

The  Demand  of  Ideals  for  New  Institutions.  The 
most  generous  sympathy  with  existing  institutions  and 
with  efforts  for  their  perfection  as  civic  resources  cannot 
stretch  them  to  match  the  best  current  ideals  for  the  com- 
munity. Throughout  the  discussion  it  has  been  the  con- 
cern of  the  author  to  suggest  or  instigate  no  new  organ- 
ization which  can  be  avoided  in  the  already  burdened 
little  town.  But  there  are  recognized  possibilities  for 
which  we  have  no  adequate  institutional  expression,  and 
others  lying  beyond  the  best  scope  of  institutions  as  we 
now  know  them.  There  are  ideal  spheres  besides  in 
which  their  service  is  still  occasional  and  optional.  Even 
a  good  church  or  school  extending  itself  to  serve  a  good 
community  may  not  furnish  w^hat  the  more  progressive 
minds  demand.  Their  ideals  may  remain  too  far  in  ad- 
vance for  popular  acceptance.  Communities,  too,  will 
differ.  The  recognized  ideal  here  will  be  the  novelty 
there,  with  no  chance  for  organized  expression.  Under 
such  circumstances,  those  who  have  the  vision  cannot  do 
otherwise  than  pioneer  in  its  behalf,  whether  others  will 
or  whether  they  forbear.  And  to  the  end  of  the  human 
chapter  social  ideals  will  be  in  flux;  there  will  be  no 
one  best  way  for  all  towns.  It  can  hardly  be  expected, 
for  example,  that  those  who  feel  that  play  is  a  whole 

155 


156  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

half  of  life  and  equally  significant  with  work  should  get 
their  sense  of  values  completely  recognized  even  in  the 
ordinarily  progressive  school.  The  more  radically  social 
version  of  intelligence  will  not  be  served  by  the  best 
library  which  remains  merely  a  library;  nor  that  of  re- 
ligion by  the  best  church  which  continues  denomina- 
tional; nor  that  of  art  by  any  achievement  of  beauty 
which  is  the  work  of  the  few.  In  short,  all  the  more 
significant  human  ideals  have  suffered  such  revolutionary 
change  at  the  hand  of  the  modern  social  consciousness 
that  there  must  be  a  realm  of  new  organization  directly 
in  the  interests  of  these  ideals,  as  well  as  that  redirection 
of  old  organizations  of  which  the  last  chapter  spoke. 

Superficial  vs.  Fundamental  Organizations.  It  is  of 
course  true  that  very  much  modern  organization  is  of 
but  superficial  significance.  To  establish  a  new  play- 
ground association  may  touch  the  problem  of  community 
recreation  much  less  vitally  than  to  get  recreation  cor- 
dially recognized  by  the  schools  and  churches.  A  varied 
group  of  social  service  activities  has  been  invented, — - 
most  of  which  are  in  the  experimental  stage.  Their  per- 
manent forms  and  functions  are  by  no  means  sure,  and 
their  future  relations  with  other  civic  forces  are  espe- 
cially uncertain.  On  the  other  hand  all  the  significant 
new  ideals  must  find  institutional  expression  sooner  or 
later,  and  the  least  that  the  little  town  can  do  is  to 
experiment  conservatively  with  their  emerging  institu- 
tions. 

THE  EMERGING  INSTITUTIONS  OF   RECREATION 

There  are  those  who  believe  that  the  community  cannot 
do  anything  together  until  it  has  learned  to  play  together, 


IDEALS  157 

and  that  play  is  so  akin  to  religion  that  their  finer  forms 
merge.  Such  people  with  such  convictions  will  hardly 
be  satisfied  with  any  probable  recreational  use  of  the 
school  plant.  They  can  demand  nothing  less  than  a  cen- 
tral amusement  hall  and  playground  for  the  whole  com- 
munity, integral  with  its  civic  centre  and  in  sympathy 
with  its  town  plan.  This  is  a  fundamental  feature  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation's  plans  for  model  indus- 
trial towns.  Such  an  attitude  toward  the  play  function 
in  community  life  is  finding  wide  acceptance. 

Perversion  of  and  Provision  for  the  Play  Impulse. 
It  is  urged  further  that  the  exceptional  perversion  of  the 
play  instinct  under  little-town  conditions  makes  a  rad- 
ical provision  for  it  still  more  necessary.  As  Dr.  Warren 
Wilson  has  shown/  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  country 
in  amusement  sends  the  farm  population  to  the  little 
town  for  almost  every  recreational  satisfaction.  This 
tends  to  speed  up  unduly  its  amusement  agencies,  and 
puts  upon  them  extra  temptation  to  exploit  the  play 
hunger  of  the  rural  population  for  private  gain.  It 
often  follows  that  the  "fast  set"  of  the  little  town  out- 
does the  city.  Entertainments  which  would  not  be  tol- 
erated in  the  city  flourish  there.  There  is  a  general 
lack  of  standards  and  a  fluctuation  between  puritanism 
and  libertinism  which  appears  as  the  social  tragedy  of 
"Spoon  River,"  in  the  now  famous  Anthology.  A 
properly  proposed  and  supervised  set  of  amusement 
agencies  appear  more  and  more  necessary.  The  "opera 
house,"  the  moving  picture  show,  the  pool  hall  and  the 
public  dance  are  acute  perils  so  long  as  uncensored  by 

1  "Social  Life  in  the  Country,"  in  Annals  of  th«  Amerivam, 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  XV,  p.  121. 


158  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  community  conscience.  The  completest  provision 
for  the  needs  which  they  represent  is  made  when  the 
town  itself  directly  operates  a  municipal  amusement 
plant  ^  adapting  itself  to  the  tastes  of  all  the  people, 
but  maintaining  consistent  standards  and  securing 
united  support. 

THE   EMERGING   INSTITUTIONS   OP    CIVIC   INTELLIGENCE 

As  with  recreation,  so  with  culture  in  the  sense  of 
civic  intelligence.  No  improvement  of  present  institu- 
tions can  fully  express  it. 

The  Public  Library.  The  librarj^-  itself  as  a  public  in- 
stitution is  not  existent  in  most  of  the  little  towns. 
There  are  less  than  two  thousand  in  the  entire  United 
States,  and  four-fifths  of  their  readers  live  in  the  North 
Atlantic  and  North  Central  States.  Where  the  library 
exists  it  is  harmless  and  as  yet  largely  purposeless.  It 
reflects  in  the  main  the  fine  old  bookish  habit  which  re- 
garded culture  as  a  personal  accomplishment  sometimes 
adding  to  the  appreciation  of  life.  The  boy  curious  con- 
cerning stars  and  the  club  essayist  required  to  write  on 
*'art"  uses  the  library;  otherwise  it  is  a  place  of  popular 
magazines  and  light  fiction. 

Culture  vs.  Civic  Guidance.  It  is  a  far  cry  from 
such  an  agency  of  culture  to  the  thought  of  the  library 
as  an  available  collection  of  information  whereby  the 
community  may  educate  itself  in  what  it  ought  to  do. 
The  essential  part  of  the  little-town  library  consists 
of  bulletins  and  reports  on  specific  items  of  civic  conse- 
quence.    It  is  a  noteworthy  aspect  of  such  literature 

2  For  good  examples  see  University  of  Wisconsin  Bulletin  No. 
234,  pp.  29  f .  and  35  f. 


IDEALS  159 

that  much  of  it  costs  nothing.  Such  a  bulletin  of  free 
literature  as  is  published  by  the  University  of  Oregon 
reveals  the  wide  range  of  agencies,  governmental  and 
private,  which  issue  such  material.  Loan  and  travelling 
collections  and  exhibits  may  be  had  almost  continuously.* 
These  resources  bring  the  working  civic  library  within 
the  grasp  of  any  town.  Add,  say,  two  hundred  books 
distributed  through  eight  or  ten  subjects  and  the  com- 
munity is  supplied  with  the  fundamentals  of  civic  intel- 
ligence. All  library  success  is  measured  in  the  growing 
efficiency  of  the  community  along  civic  lines. 

The  Transformed  Library.  Integral  parts  of  such 
a  "library"  are  the  museum  of  local  history  and  the 
exhibit  of  local  products,  with  the  annual  community 
fair,  school  exhibit  and  periodic  exhibits  of  church  and 
club  work.  Especially  important  is  the  annual  charting 
and  graphic  presentation  of  the  doings  of  local  govern- 
ment and  the  use  of  community  taxes.  The  spending  of 
public  money  is  the  final  test  of  civic  life.  Then  there 
will  be  the  annual  exhibits  of  local  civic  improvement 
with  examples  of  the  similar  results  of  other  towns. 
The  travelling  exhibits  of  state  and  national  agencies, 
agricultural,  educational  and  municipal  will  be  brought 
to  the  little  town.  The  striking  exhibits  of  the  anti- 
tuberculosis and  other  public  health  movements  will  be 
included. 

Concrete  and  Graphic  Methods.  The  re-directed  li- 
brary turns  into  an  exhibit  hall  in  which  the  books  are 
the  mere  interpreters  of  facts  visually  presented.  This 
marks  not  only  the  appeal  from  the  printed  page  to  the 

3  Tarbell,   "A   Village   Library,"   publication   of   Massachusetts 
Civic  League  (Boston). 


160  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

more  concrete  and  graphic  means  of  communicating 
ideas  but  also  the  shifting  of  the  idea  of  culture  from 
books  to  things  and  measures,  from  f.:r  interests  to  near 
ones,  and  from  other  people's  idealization  of  life  to 
one's  own.  The  improvement  of  the  old  library  ends 
in  quite  another  institution  under  the  control  of  a  new 
idea  of  civic  intelligence. 

The  Civic  Forum.  The  other  emerging  agency  of 
civic  intelligence  is  the  public  auditorium  carrying  out 
a  definite  scheme  of  extension  education  for  the  com- 
munity. Here  by  lecture,  lantern  and  open  discussion, 
the  ideals  of  community  action,  of  local  government 
and  of  voluntary  organization  are  still  further  popu- 
larized. Instead  of  the  casual  occurrence  of  lecture  or 
demonstration,  there  is  a  curriculum  of  public  educa- 
tion as  inclusive  and  progressive  as  that  of  the  school. 
The  church  no  longer  merely  exploits  the  man  with  a 
message  to  help  it  pay  for  decorating  its  auditorium. 
The  Chautauqua  is  no  longer  a  private  commercialized 
venture.  There  is  a  plan  of  community  education  as 
definitely  involving  the  principles  of  pedagogy  as  that  of 
the  school.  It  is  made  possible  doubtless  through  the  co- 
operation of  the  school  authorities  and  public  spirited 
citizens.  Civic  improvement  then  becomes  no  longer  a 
succession  of  spasms  but  a  process  as  continuous  as  the 
education  of  children  from  generation  to  generation. 
The  town  will  go  on  decade  after  decade  studying  itself, 
determining  what  it  wants  to  do,  popularly  educating  its 
people  and  directing  its  life  by  intelligence  backed  by 
the  emotion  which  comes  from  knowledge  and  appre- 
ciation. 

Tool  vs.  Ornament.    The  community  which  is  really 


IDEALS  161 

doing  business  with  its  library  as  a  tool  of  civic  intel- 
ligence, and  which  takes  its  museum  seriously  as  an 
epitome  of  community  life,  will  be  saved  from  the  local 
magnate  who  wishes  to  make  them  a  mausoleum  or 
memorial  of  his  pride  and  bad  taste.  No  man  will  accept 
a  tool  which  he  cannot  use;  but  many  a  community 
which  did  not  regard  its  library  as  a  tool  has  accepted 
one  which  it  does  not  really  use.  Sometimes  the  gift 
involves  preposterous  architecture  or  such  perpetua- 
tion of  the  donor's  idiosyncrasies  as  will  make  the  com- 
munity a  laughing  stock  to  the  centuries.  Serious  pur- 
pose is  the  first  element  in  good  taste.  It  will  not  occur 
to  any  one  to  offer  a  shoddy  article  to  a  community 
which  takes  its  institutions  of  intelligence  seriously,  and 
such  a  community  will  be  sure  to  have  the  courage  to 
refuse  an  unworthy  gift. 

The  Social  Survey.  The  technical  expression  of  civic 
intelligence  in  its  more  radical  version  is  the  social 
survey.  In  plain  EnglLsh  this  means  nothing  more  than 
an  accurate  and  generally  a  statistical  study  of  condi- 
tions as  they  exist  in  any  particular  town  and  of  the 
agencies  available  for  its  improvement.  The  results  of 
an  interesting  but  rather  limited  survey  are  given  in  the 
first  chapter.*  The  complete  survey  of  a  great  city  makes 
a  good  sized  volume.  Two  or  three  dozen  pages  may 
suffice  to  give  a  fairly  comprehensive  statement  of  the 
case  of  the  little  town.  The  points  discussed  in  these 
chapters  would  make  a  reasonabh'  comprehensive  out- 
line for  such  a  survey.  Its  technique  is  now  fairly 
established  and  the  experience  of  numerous  communities 
is  available  as  to  its  benefits.     There  is  no  other  way 

*\  p.  21. 


162  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

for  the  town,  little  or  big,  to  find  out  what  it  ought  to 
do  and  to  find  out  the  present  facts  as  to  its  conditions 
and  resources. 

The  Use  of  the  Survey.  The  immediate  popular 
use  of  the  survey  is  to  stir  interest  in  civic  improvement. 
Its  discoveries  should  be  pictured,  charted  and  exhibited. 
They  will  have  obvious  relations  to  the  work  of  the 
church,  commercial  club,  the  school  and  the  town  council. 
The  minister  will  preach  a  sermon;  the  commercial  club 
will  issue  an  illustrated  leaflet;  the  school  will  modify 
its  curriculum,  and  the  council  pass  ordinances.  The 
record  of  the  survey  should  then  find  permanent  place 
in  the  public  library.  Two  or  three  years  from  now 
the  town  will  want  to  ask  the  same  questions  over  again, 
so  as  to  know  accurately  whether  and  how  fast  it  has 
progressed  or  gone  backward.  The  more  profound  and 
technical  use  of  the  survey  will  be  limited  to  the  few 
who  have  the  long-look-ahead  in  civic  matters.  On  the 
basis  of  it  they  will  take  the  initial  steps  in  a  compre- 
hensive program  of  community  upbuilding;  namely,  the 
development  of  a  pedagogical  plan  and  a  financial  plan. 

The  Community  Program.  The  town  is  full  of  hard 
headed  and  wrong  headed  people, — retired  farmers, 
superficial  women,  dictatorial  leading  citizens  and  selfish 
politicians.  The  problem  is  to  present  the  necessary 
steps  of  a  civic  improvement  program  in  such  guise  and 
in  such  order  that  it  will  be  acceptable  to  those  who 
have  or  vote  the  necessary  funds.  It  requires  the  wis- 
dom of  the  serpent  as  well  as  the  harmlessness  of  the 
dove,  and  many  a  fine  civic  program  has  come  to  grief 
at  this  point.  That  must  be  proposed  which  will  carry. 
At  the  same  time  the  first  steps  must  not  be  too  super- 


IDEALS  163 

ficial  and  they  must  lead  on  to  the  complete  and  ideal 
program.  The  practical  financial  issues  arc  perplexing. 
There  is  a  limit  to  the  ability  of  the  town  to  borrow 
money.  Possibly  the  issue  is  between  sewers  and  streets 
or  a  new  high  school  or  town  hall.  If  the  decision  is 
for  the  former,  then  the  old  buildings  must  be  repaired 
or  remodelled.  If  too  much  money  is  put  into  them  it 
will  not  be  possible  to  raise  the  question  of  new  build- 
ings for  the  next  five  or  ten  years.  If  both  the  high 
school  and  the  town  hall  are  possible  one  of  them  will 
want  to  include  a  great  auditorium  for  civic  purposes; 
but  which  one?  This  question  will  have  much  bearing 
upon  the  location  of  either  building,  upon  its  architec- 
tural design,  and  upon  the  future  civic  policy  of  the 
community.  In  other  words,  the  comprehensive  pro- 
gram must  answer  the  question :  In  what  order  shall 
we  proceed?  Plow  fast  can  we  go?  How  shall  im- 
mediate gains  be  kept  from  preventing  remoter  gains, 
and  what  will  be  the  effect  upon  the  future  of  our  present 
plans  and  decisions? 

THE   EMERGING    INSTITUTION   OF    NEIGHBOURHOOD 

Just  Human  Fellowship.  Of  the  newer  social  ideals 
which  are  seeking  fresh  institutional  expression  the 
simplest  and  most  fundamental  is  that  of  neighbourhood 
itself.  The  interest  of  folk  in  one  another  is  the  broadest 
and  deepest  basis  of  human  association.  Play  and  intel- 
lectual interests  and  even  moral  aims  attract  some  of 
the  people  all  of  the  time  and  possibily  all  of  the  people 
some  of  the  time;  but  fellowship  for  all  of  the  people 
all  of  the  time  is  the  very  bread  of  life.  It  is  the  primal 
enjo3niient  and  the  final  helpfulness.     It  necessarily  finds 


164  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

outlet  in  all  directions  and  includes  all  possible  civic 
activities.  In  its  socialized  version,  it  seeks  to  raise 
incidental  neighbourhood  into  conscious  brother- 
hood. 

Extending-  the  Home  Spirit  to  the  Whole  Community. 
The  hunger  of  this  ideal  begins  to  find  institutional  sat- 
isfaction when  some  central  place — church,  schoolhouse, 
civic  hall  or  club — takes  on  the  attributes  of  a  community- 
home.  In  contrast  with  the  specialized  institutions  of 
trade,  education  or  worship,  the  home  is  precisely  a 
place  where  all  the  interests  of  all  the  members  merge. 
The  institutional  task  of  the  community  spirit  is  to  create 
such  a  place  in  which  all  the  people  come  together  into 
actual  acquaintance  and  which  expresses  in  the  simplest 
terms  of  neighbourliness,  all  the  interests  which  the 
social  survey  discovers  and  with  which  civic  intelligence 
must  deal.  It  must  take  all  these  matters  out  of  the 
realm  of  problems  and  give  them  home  flavour  as  the 
practical  human  concerns  of  all  of  us. 

Social  Centres  in  City  and  Country.  Civic  centre, 
social  centre,  and  community  centre  are  names  hinting 
at  slightly  varying  aspects  of  the  widespread  current 
effort  to  evolve  an  institution  directly  incarnating  the 
neighbourly  spirit  in  its  inclusive  form.  In  the  city  are 
crowded  people  of  many  nationalities,  races  and  social 
classes.  They  are  often  of  alien  speech;  they  cherish 
inherited  animosities  and  suspicions.  They  live  poorly 
under  conditions  which  make  the  street  more  potent  than 
the  home.  They  have  equal  poverty  of  social  life  and 
what  they  have  is  often  misdirected,  commercialized, 
unwholesome.  Yet  they  would  respect  and  enjoy  each 
other  if  they  could  only  become  acquainted.     Now  here 


IDEALS  ir,5 

are  great  buildings  and  wide  grounds — churches,  schools, 
parks — erected  with  the  people's  money  and  ostensibly 
for  public  purposes,  yet  idle  and  empty  most  of  the 
hours  of  most  of  the  days.  Why  not  lay  hold  on  these 
places  with  the  neighbourhood  spirit  and  make  them 
homes-at-large  for  the  total  community? 

At  the  other  extreme  of  contrasting  fortunes  is  the 
scattered  group  of  farm  families  constituting  a  rural 
neighbourhood.  They  are  divided  chiefly  by  distance 
and  the  non-cooperative  character  of  their  calling. 
With  them  is  found  an  equal  call  for  deliberate  neigh- 
bourliness and  for  the  conscious  enrichment  of  life 
through  enlarged  companionship.  This  is  the  mission 
of  the  social  centre  in  the  open  country. 

The  Little  Town's  Social  Centre.  As  applied  to  the 
little  town,  the  social  centre  idea  lacks  the  incentives 
which  arise  from  extreme  congestion  or  extreme  isola- 
tion of  population.  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  as 
one  of  the  primary  virtues  of  these  smaller  centres  that 
they  have  kept  the  neighbourly  consciousness  which  city 
and  country  have  lost.  On  the  other  hand,  the  little 
town  uses  its  advantage  in  this  respect,  but  poorly.  It 
substitutes  the  dissensions  of  cliques  for  those  of  nation- 
alities and  the  petty  competitions  of  institutions  for  the 
vast  clash  of  diverse  interests.  Frequently,  before  its 
churches,  schools,  town  government,  commercial  and 
women's  clubs  can  exert  an  effective  leadership,  they 
must  somehow  re-discover  neighbourhood  as  a  con- 
structive force.  This  need  is  fundamental.  No  matter 
how  many  superfluous  organizations  a  little  town  already 
has  it  may  still  need  that  inclusive  one  which  embraces 
all  the  people  in  the  bounds  of  neighbourly  friendship. 


166  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Either  the  social  centre  or  get  the  ideal  adequately  ex- 
pressed in  some  other  way! 

"Rurban"  Extension  of  the  Ideal.  The  Department 
of  Education  of  the  state  of  Washington  ^  is  making  a 
most  interesting  attempt  to  interpret  the  social  centre 
ideal  in  the  terms  of  the  little  town  and  its  surrounding 
dependent  country.  County  superintendents  of  educa- 
tion are  directed  to  organize  the  schools  under  their 
supervision  into  community  centres.  Occasionally,  they 
are  told,  there  should  be  a  grouping  of  one-room  school- 
houses  into  a  district  organization  for  neighbourliness; 
but  ordinarily  a  small  town  with  a  four  year  high  school 
in  it,  is  to  be  officially  recognized  as  the  community 
centre  and  its  neighbouring  school  districts  grouped  with 
it  into  a  natural  area  within  which  the  neighbourhood 
spirit  is  to  be  discovered  and  in  which  its  social  conse- 
quences are  to  be  worked  out.  This  is  the  first  definitely 
"rurban"  re-statement  of  the  social  centre  idea  in  offi- 
cial terms. 

RELIGION   IN   ITS  COMMUNITY  EXPRESSIONS 

The  supreme  realms  in  which  no  perfection  of  institu- 
tions can  match  the  demand  of  ideals  are  those  of  worship 
and  of  art.  The  town  stands  in  cosmic  relations:  its 
neighbourhood  extends  upward  as  well  as  outward :  it  is 
conscious  of  itself  as  looked  down  upon  by  the  stars, 
and  as  capable  of  looking  back  at  them  with  a  significant 
emotion  and  a  sense  of  infinite  mystery.     It  stands  also 

5  Preston,  The  Community  Center,  State  of  Washington  Depart- 
ment of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  20;  Thomason,  Suggestions  for 
Community  Centers,  State  of  Washington  Department  of  Educa- 
tion, Bulletin  No.  26. 


AX    ANCIENT    NEW    ENGLAND    CUCRCH 


IDEALS  107 

in  certain  august  relationships,  historical  and  social, 
which  inspire  reverence  and  challenge  the  individual  to 
supreme  loyalty  and  consecration.  Such  is  the  story  of 
our  forefathers'  toil  and  sacrifice,  the  fine  old  traditions, 
the  subtle  influence  which  explain  most  that  is  good  in 
us,  the  spell  of  the  cradle  and  of  the  altar ;  the  sense  of 
being  possessed  by  the  nation  too,  the  "mystic  chords 
of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and  patriot 
grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth-stone  all  over 
this  broad  land";  and  finally  our  conscious  place  as 
somehow  unique  agents  in  this  our  World  of  our  Time, 
— individuals  each  with  an  inviolate  personality.  These 
all  cry  out  for  collective  expression  and  response  in  the 
little  town  as  in  the  big.  The  community  especially 
which  has  developed  social  mindedness  and  a  sort  of  col- 
lective personality  through  the  working  out  of  a  civic 
program  on  lower  levels,  cannot  keep  back  the  impulse 
toward  civic  worship  and  some  form  of  creative  art.  A 
continual  striving  will  be  in  it  which  cannot  be  institu- 
tionalized nor  cast  into  fixed  moulds ;  but  which  neces- 
sarily utilizes  the  recurring  anniversaries  of  the  town, 
the  nation  and  of  Christendom. 

The  Town  Standing  Before  God.  The  community 
experience  of  religion  has  other  quality  than  that  real- 
ized through  the  separate  services  of  denominational  con- 
gregations. At  Christmas  time,  Easter  and  Children's 
Day,  these  congregations  find  themselves  re-enforced  by 
considerable  numbers  of  people  who  do  not  attend  church 
regularly.  They  are  said  to  come  to  "hear  the  music" 
or  "see  the  children."  A  profounder  view  appreciates 
the  fact  that  they  are  responding  to  another  and  more 
comprehensive  phase  of  religion  than  is  ordinarily  pre- 


168  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

scribed  or  than  is  easily  expressed  through  sectarian 
forms.  In  the  main,  however,  it  is  not  another  group 
of  people  who  respond  to  the  appeal  of  civic  religion; 
but  the  same  group  who  have  already  responded  to  re- 
ligion in  its  individual  version, — with  some  additions. 
But  the  two  groups  are  not  co-extensive:  together  they 
are  larger  than  either  is  alone,  and  the  civic  approach 
to  religion  of  which  they  are  together  capable  yields 
points  of  co-operation  not  otherwise  secured.  The  town 
stands  before  God  even  as  the  single  man  does,  and  there 
are  some  in  it  who,  for  the  present  at  least,  will  come 
before  Him  in  this  way  and  not  in  any  other. 

Civic  Evang-elism  and  Its  Occasions.  The  appeal  of 
this  version  of  religion,  both  to  those  otherwise  religious 
and  to  those  otherwise  not  so  religious,  is  imperatively 
necessary  to  secure  the  loyalties  and  authorities  which 
underlie  civic  betterment.  Narrowness  and  selfishness 
are  entrenched  in  the  little  town:  they  have  dug  them- 
selves in  with  the  intention  of  staying.  To  exorcise 
them  is  not  easy.  There  has  to  be  an  evangelism  of  civic 
religion,  and  a  continuous  education  of  youth  and  of  the 
active  community  in  it.  Their  most  natural  occasions 
are  those  upon  which  the  community  as  such  already 
gathers  in  the  name  of  religion, — Thanksgiving,  com- 
munity Christmas  exercises,  union  summer  services,  and 
the  like. 

Civic  Religion  Co-extensive  with  Civic  Interests. 
But  civic  religion  cannot  be  limited  to  the  fasts  and 
feasts  already  traditionally  pertaining  to  the  church  and 
the  Christian  year.  It  is  essentially  an  interpretation 
of  all  civic  interests  in  the  light  of  their  final  ideals. 
There  is  something  pitiable,  for  example,  in  securing  a 


IDEALS  169 

"sane"  Fourth  of  July  and  stopping  there.  Patriotism 
has  a  good  many  interests  beyond  sanity  which  it  is  the 
business  of  religion  to  find  and  enforce  positively.  It 
has  to  announce  the  positive  message  of  community 
events, — of  school  commencement,  the  agricultural  fair, 
Old  Home  Week,  the  dedication  of  public  buildings,  the 
departure  of  soldiers  to  join  the  colours,  the  anniversa- 
ries of  religious  and  civic  organizations, — to  touch  thfir 
story  with  emotion  and  display  it  as  the  august  back- 
ground of  the  common  life. 

A  Civic  Faith  which  Works.  As  actually  experi- 
enced in  the  average  little  town,  nothing  can  exceed  the 
stupidity,  conventionality,  falsehood  and  lack  of  vital 
quality  which  pervades  many  of  these  occasions, — and 
chiefly  because  they  are  cut  off  from  any  relation  to  a 
definite  and  persistent  program  of  civic  betterment. 
Religion  in  its  community  phase,  cannot  begin  but  can 
only  complete  the  cycle  of  civic  progress.  Until  the 
civic  tasks  of  the  little  town  are  undertaken  religiously, 
the}''  cannot  be  talked  about  religiously  with  any  truth 
or  profit.  A  strong  and  earnest  educational  spirit 
throughout  the  year  will  put  meaning  into  commence- 
ment exercises.  In  turn,  the  idealization  of  education 
on  commencement  day  will  reinforce  next  year's  entire 
school  work.  A  keen  civic  interest  will  make  a  vital 
Fourth  of  July  possible,  and  a  good  Fourth  will  make 
for  better  civic  interest.  It  is  the  weakness  and  beauty 
of  religion  that  it  must  keep  its  feet  upon  the  ground 
while  its  face  is  against  the  stars.  None  of  the  things 
most  deeply  desirable  for  the  little  town  are  possible 
"without  reinforcement  of  religion— but  civic  religion 
itself  is  impossible  without  some  basis  in   community 


170  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

service,  without  a  body  of  facts  and  efforts  which  it  may 
idealize  and  interpret.  Many  a  decadent  little  town  has 
erected  into  a  religious  dogma  the  exceptional  glory  of 
its  founders,  its  supreme  culture  and  the  unrivalled  vir- 
tues of  its  women — and  has  done  nothing  to  justify  any 
of  these  articles  of  its  creed.  In  no  field  is  faith  without 
works  more  barren — or  more  ridiculous. 

THE  PINE  ARTS  IN   THEIR  CIVIC    MINISTRIES 

The  most  splendid  and  inclusive  of  community  ideals 
are  expressed  and  secured  through  the  fine  arts,  most  of 
which,  after  due  measure  and  fashion,  are  available  for 
even  the  very  little  town.  Even  their  miniature  version 
is  peculiarly  wholesome  and  delightful. 

Music.  Perhaps  the  most  unique  development  of 
community  music  in  America  is  the  achievement  of  a 
small  Swedish  town  in  Kansas,  which  the  president  of 
the  local  college  describes  as  follows:  "In  the  heart  of 
the  agricultural  district,  about  two  hundred  miles  west 
of  Kansas  City,  lies  the  little  town  of  Lindsborg,  a  ham- 
let of  scarcely  two  thousand  souls,  which  is  the  musical 
centre  of  the  Southwest.  .  .  .  Each  Easter  week  its 
people  perform  Handel's  'Messiah'  with  a  chorus  of  five 
hundred  voices  and  an  orchestra  of  forty  pieces.  .  .  . 
Among  its  members  there  are  those  who  participated 
in  the  first  performance,  and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing 
for  three  generations  of  the  same  family  to  be  repre- 
sented. One  of  the  unique  features  is  a  Children's 
Chorus  of  three  hundred.  .  .  .  The  'Messiah'  is  given 
three  times  each  season — Palm  Sunday,  Good  Friday  and 
Easter  Sunday.  .  .  .  Each  afternoon  and  evening  of  the 
week  are  given  over  to  musical  entertainment  by  visiting 


IDEALS  171 

artists.  .  .  .  Every  available  room  in  the  public  hostel- 
ries,  as  well  as  in  private  homes,  is  in  demand.  On  the 
'Messiah'  days  the  railroads  furnish  special  train  sei'vice. 
A  single  one  of  these  special  trains  brought  in  over  twelve 
hundred  visitors  for  the  concerts  on  the  opening  day  of 
the  season  this  spring.  During  the  hours  these  strangers 
are  in  tlie  city,  Lindsborg  finds  its  population  increased 
threefold.  .  .  .  The  whole  undertaking  has  about  it  some- 
thing of  the  old-world  atmosphere  of  simplicity  bordering 
on  the  severely  primitive.  The  concerts  are  given  in  a 
large  wooden  structure,  octagonal  in  shape  and  furnished 
with  wooden  benches.  The  women  in  the  chorus  are  at- 
tired in  white  and  the  men  in  conventional  black.  As  the 
five  hundred  singers  arise  at  the  signal  of  the  director, 
the  effect  is  overwhelming.  There  is  no  applause  during 
the  program,  which  lasts  about  three  hours,  and  the 
atmosphere  is  rather  that  of  a  religious  service  than  of 
the  concert  hall.  The  Bethany  Oratorio  Society  is  now 
a  permanent  fixture  in  the  development  of  the  com- 
munity. It  represents  the  one  aspiration  in  which  the 
inhabitants,  regardless  of  all  other  differences,  are  un- 
divided. The  course  is  still  recruited  from  the  people  of 
the  town  and  the  countryside.  Among  its  members  there 
are  those  who  drive  from  seven  to  eight  miles — no  small 
degree  of  devotion,  particularly  on  cold  winter  nights, 
over  rough  roads.  The  repertoire  of  the  chorus  has  been 
expanded  until  it  includes  all  of  the  standard  oratorios. 
Bethany  Oratorio  Society  has  demonstrated  its  useful- 
ness, as  well  as  its  artistic  value.  Through  its  efforts  the 
little  Swedish  hamlet  on  the  broad  prairies  of  Kansas  has 
been  made  one  of  the  musical  centres  of  the  countrj'.  It 
has  brought  into  the  materialistic  life  of  a  new  state — 


172  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

where  in  the  nature  of  things  the  butter  and  bread  ques- 
tion is  uppermost — something  of  the  softening  influence 
of  old-world  culture,  and  has  gained  for  the  Swedish  im- 
migrant a  distinction  beyond  that  of  a  'hewer  of  wood 
and  a  drawer  of  water. '  The  'Messiah '  at  Lindsborg  has 
proven  a  tangible  contribution  to  that  new,  seething  life 
which  is  springing  out  of  the  prairies  of  the  great  South- 
west."*' 

A  More  Modest  Example.  In  strong  contrast  with 
the  highly  organized  and  now  venerable  Lindsborg  case 
is  the  recent  experience  of  a  small  Minnesota  town  with 
impromptu  outdoor  "sings"  conducted  by  a  summer  resi- 
dent. "Three  weeks  ago  in  the  court  house  yard  (we 
have  no  parks  as  yet  but  hope  to,  as  Anoka  is  a  small 
city  of  3,000)  we  had  an  outdoor  'sing.'  Everything 
was  donated;  the  expense  nothing  and  the  work  very 
little.  I  mounted  a  box  and  swung  the  stick  for  the 
band  and  the  multitude.  One  of  the  printing  offices 
donated  the  printing  and  the  words  of  the  old  songs 
like  Home  Sweet  Home,  Suwanee  River,  Come  Thou 
Almighty  King,  were  all  printed  out.  The  city  strung 
lights  and  5,000  people  came.  A  number  came  from 
the  neighbouring  village  of  Minneapolis.  Nearly  twice 
as  many  were  there  as  this  town  holds.  They  sang 
pretty  well,  for  the  first  time.  However,  that  was  not 
the  primary  thing.  It  was  a  place  to  visit;  a  thing  to 
bring  them  together  out  of  doors.  It  was  a  great  suc- 
cess. "  '^ 

6  Community  Music,  Bulletin  University  of  Wisconsin,  Exten- 
sion Division,  p.  14. 

7  Community  Music,  Bulletin  University  of  Wisconsin,  Exten- 
sion Division,  p.  20. 


IDEALS  173 

Social  Concord  Through  Sweet  Sounds.  The  apos- 
tles of  c'uininuiiity  iiiusii:  bclievi'  lliul  it  has  immense 
social  power.  It  harmonizes  men  as  well  as  voices.  Men 
work  together  better  for  singing  together.  Nothing 
more  inevitably  tends  to  carry  over  incidental  neigh- 
bourhood into  conscious  brotlierhood.  It  is  the  art  which 
most  directly  realizes  unity  through  harmonious  co- 
operation. It  is  the  only  active  exercise  which  the  entire 
town  can  share  at  once.  Men  are  caught  up  with  it 
who  are  not  individually  or  passively  sensitive  to  the 
higher  emotions.  It  provokes  the  patriotism  of  peace 
as  well  as  the  patriotism  of  war.  It  is  one  of  the  finest 
of  the  little  town's  possibilities. 

Architecture.  In  a  town  of  any  size,  every  major 
interest  will  eventually  get  some  architectural  expres- 
sion; government  in  the  town  hall,  religion  in  the 
churches,  education  in  the  schoolhouse,  recreation  in  the 
theatre  or  ''movies,"  intelligence  in  the  library,  frater- 
nity (in  the  narrower  sense)  in  the  lodge  hall,  trade 
in  the  commercial  club  building.  These  with  the  post 
office  and  railway  station  are  the  structures  in  which 
the  town  expects  most  distinctive  character  and  adapta- 
tion to  community  uses. 

Inter-action  of  Expert  and  Community.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  civic  idealism  will  want  to  stamp  these  build- 
ings with  its  own  impress.  They  belong  to  the  town 
collectively  far  more  than  to  the  several  interests  which 
may  own  them.  They  characterize  the  town  to  the  eye 
and  to  reputation,  largely  making  or  marring  it.  They 
ought  to  be  the  most  fitting  and  perfect  expression  of 
what  the  town  means  by  the  things  which  it  chiefly  does. 
A  public  building  designed  by  an  architect  in  a  distant 


174  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

city,  erected  by  a  non-resident  contractor  with  imported 
labour,  and  paid  for  by  a  rich  benefactor  or  by  money 
concealed  within  a  general  tax  levy,  has  exactly  the  same 
moral  and  social  quality  as  music  performed  by  alien 
professionals  in  a  foreign  language.  But  music,  as  has 
been  shown,  may  easily  be  democratized  and  made  the 
handmaid  of  the  community  spirit.  "With  architecture 
it  is  not  so  easy.  At  best  the  expert  must  conceive  and 
do ;  the  public  can  do  little  but  watch  and  pay.  It  is  of 
the  greatest  importance  then  that  in  all  the  ways  which 
remain  possible  under  modern  conditions,  the  architec- 
tural middle-man  be  kept  subordinate  and  that  public 
buildings  shall  be  the  expression  of  community  ideals. 
Such  a  condition  is  often  approximated  in  the  building 
of  a  church  which  is  really  a  community  enterprise  in 
contrast  with  merely  a  sectarian  one.  Perhaps  volunteer 
labour  will  excavate  for  the  foundation  while  the  women 
look  on  and  make  coffee.  At  any  rate,  signing  the  sub- 
scription paper  pays  for  the  right  to  take  active  interest 
and  to  criticize,  which  is  in  itself  an  education.  In  the 
building  of  town  halls,  a  different  community  spirit  is 
evoked  when  taxes  give  out  and  the  work  has  to  be  com- 
pleted by  popular  subscription.  If  taxation  is  resorted 
to,  the  necessity  of  voting  special  bonds  brings  directly 
home  to  the  community  the  test  of  willingness  to  pay  for 
its  ideals.  A  building  which  everybody  uses  ought  to 
cost  everybody  something;  the  sense  of  this  gives  him 
the  maximum  of  ideal  investment  in  it.  This  is  the 
universal  formula  for  relating  architecture  and  ideals, 
though  its  applications  are  varied.  But  when  any  com- 
munity has  the  keen  sense  of  general  participation  in 
making  a  public  building  possible,  that  sense  will  be 


IDEALS  175 

measurably  conveyed  to  those  who  handle  the  money  and 
their  paid  experts  and  will  indubitably  modify  their  art. 
The  Town  a  Work  of  Art.  When  a  town  passes  on 
from  the  consideration  of  architecture  as  primarily  con- 
cerned with  particular  buildings,  to  think  of  its  entire 
area  witii  its  material  improvements  as  an  expression  of 
civic  architecture  and  a  possible  work  of  art,  the  universal 
and  direct  participation  of  its  citizens  in  the  result  be- 
comes not  only  possible  but  inevitable.  Town  plan — 
that  first  element  of  civic  well  being,  logically  speaking 
— finds  its  ultimate  value  precisely  in  the  fact  that  it 
permits  and  invites  the  final  co-operative  realization  of 
community  ideals  of  fitness,  order  and  beauty,  home  by 
home,  street  by  street,  throughout  all  the  town's  borders. 
In  such  an  atmosphere  no  man  can  build  or  maintain 
his  house  except  in  the  sense  of  being  part  of  a  whole. 
In  recent  years  the  author  has  been  watching  the  de- 
velopment of  two  areas  in  a  suburban  town.  The  first 
was  created  by  a  development  company.  It  employed 
a  good  landscape  architect,  laid  off  the  streets  artistically, 
provided  for  all  utilities,  erected  most  of  the  houses  on 
a  high  plane  of  architectural  merit,  planned  and  planted 
their  grounds,  and  put  rigid  restrictions  as  to  quality 
and  beauty  on  those  which  should  follow.  The  result 
is  a  section  of  unusual  beauty.  At  the  same  time,  how- 
ever, a  neighbouring  section  has  grown  up  in  which 
houses  have  been  built  one  at  a  time  and  under  no  re- 
strictions save  those  of  taste  and  fitness.  The  result  is 
an  equal  quality  of  architecture  and  landscaping  with 
an  even  more  pleasing  harmony  of  effect  than  that 
which  was  ready-made.  The  tradition  of  the  community, 
together  with  the  ordinary  provision  of  streets  and  utili- 


176  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ties  by  the  town,  took  care  of  unity  of  impression.  The 
houses  conspired  together  to  make  the  street  attractive. 

The  little  town  rarely  shows  anything  like  this,  yet 
it  rarely  fails  to  diffuse  some  fragmentary  love  of  beauty 
throughout  the  whole  population.  Hundreds  of  decrepit 
Negro  cabins  on  the  edges  of  Southern  towns  will  have 
flower  gardens.  It  is  easy  to  get  almost  everybody  to 
raise  flowers.  It  is  not  just  as  easy,  but  by  the  same 
token  should  not  be  impossible  to  get  everybody  to  sense 
the  larger  and  more  comprehensive  aspects  of  civic  beauty 
and  to  share  in  a  universal  habit  of  order  and  fitness 
which  shall  make  the  entire  town  an  artistic  composition 
and  its  streets  and  houses  to  sing  together  like  a  great 
chorus.  Some  of  the  better  New  England  villages — 
which  had  a  fine  heritage  of  taste  from  their  forefathers 
— have  well-nigh  accomplished  this  through  their  Im- 
provement Societies. 

Pageantry.  In  the  pageant,  civic  idealism  has  a 
newly  available  and  popular  medium  of  rare  congenial- 
ity.^ This  old  art  of  pantomime,  revived  and  enriched 
by  music  and  often  by  the  larger  use  of  the  spoken  word, 
has  been  used  in  America  chiefly  to  depict  and  epitomize 
local  history  and  to  awaken  civic  pride.  Towns  have 
made  it  mark  their  centuries  and  colleges  have  called  it 
to  celebrate  their  decades.  The  pageant  also  fittingly 
unites  religious  and  civic  aspirations.  Among  its  most 
beautiful  and  satisfying  examples  is  a  community  cele- 
bration of  Christmas  mystery  plays  given  at  Bronxville, 
New  York,  in  1914  and  1915. 

An  Evangel  of  Civic  Betterment.     The  pageant  cele- 

8  See  Tanner,  "The  Pageant  of  the  Little  Town  of  X,"  publica- 
tion of  Mass.  Civic  League  ( Boston ) . 


IDEALS  177 

brating  the  One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of 
the  founding  of  Thetford,  Vermont,  sought  to  be  a  direct 
vehicle  of  community  awakening  and  progress.  Paral- 
lel with  the  work  of  creating  an  artistic  expression  of 
the  town's  story  went  the  practical  work  of  a  committee 
of  experts  dealing  with  all  current  phases  of  its  civic  life. 
The  last  episode  of  the  pageant  dealt  with  the  country' 
town  problem  of  today,  depicting  the  struggle  between 
discouragement  and  confidence  in  the  new  resources 
possible  through  scientific  agriculture  and  the  better 
vision  of  community  life.  Its  central  message  was  that 
Thetford  might  be  made  the  ideal  place  to  live  in.® 

Art  and  Democracy.  Unhappily  not  every  pageant 
held  in  a  little  town  has  been  a  genuine  expression  of 
community  ideals.  Some  have  been  merely  the  diverting 
performances  of  summer  residents  and  other  transients. 
Others  have  sacrificed  democracy  to  art.  Of  course  the 
participation  of  large  numbers  of  inexpert  people  does 
not  in  itself  make  a  pageant  worth  giving  and  it  ought 
not  to  be  necessary  in  the  name  of  democracy  to  make 
the  artistically  judicious  grieve.  On  the  other  hand, 
civic  value  in  the  pageant  demands  that  it  be  in  some 
true  sense  popular, — a  condition  well  fulfilled  in  a  North 
Carolina  mountain  hamlet  where  a  mission  school  in 
1915  enacted  a  pageant  of  local  Appalachain  history  as 
a  commencement  event.  Its  purpose  was  to  stir  a  back- 
ward community  with  the  dignity  of  its  own  story,  to 
awaken  self-respect,  and  a  sense  of  the  present  possibili- 
ties of  mountain  life.  Naturally  initiative  and  tech- 
nical skill  had  to  come  from  teachers  trained  elsewhere, 
but  the  local  spirit  soon  made  the  enterprise  its  own. 

»  "The  Pageant  of  Thetford,"  Book  of  Words,  etc. 


178  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

As  carried  out  it  was  by,  for  and  of  the  mountains. 
In  large  measure  it  enabled  the  community  to  embrace 
the  generations  of  its  past  in  sympathy,  to  feel  the  vital 
movements  of  its  history  and  to  respond  with  religious 
seriousness  to  the  implicit  message  concerning  the  pres- 
ent. A  good  many  more  marvellous  things  have  come 
true  than  that  the  chief  types  of  communal  art  should 
spread  to  every  American  town  and  village,  so  that  their 
people,  as  a  whole,  should  be  able  to  sing,  to  plan  and 
build  and  to  express  dramatically  the  praise  of  their 
heritage  and  of  their  own  better  visions.  The  instinct 
of  beauty  is  universal.  In  some  of  its  aspects  the  com- 
mon life  is  always  worth  praising.  Art  is  natural  and 
naturalizes  in  every  well  planned  work.  Whenever  it 
touches  one  of  the  major  experiences  of  a  community, 
praise  should  be  made  glorious  in  some  expression  which 
is  recognized  as  art  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  natural, 
fitting  and  sincere. 

Creative  Genius  in  the  Little  Town.  So  much  on  the 
side  of  enjoyment  and  appreciation  of  art  as  it  may  be 
acquired  by  the  interactions  of  work  and  culture  in  a 
community  which  does  not  pretend  to  have  originated 
it.  There  remains  art  as  an  individual  gift.  Creative 
imagination  probably  is  distributed  fairly  throughout 
the  human  race.  Generally  it  is  thwarted  by  inability 
to  break  through  into  expression  in  a  materialistic  and 
commercialized  world.  Instead,  however,  of  elegizing 
over  the  narrow  opportunities  of  genius  in  little  towns, 
it  is  the  part  of  good  sense  to  furnish  the  smaller  com- 
munities with  those  means  of  expression  which  shall  in- 
vite homespun  talent  and  give  it  a  chance.  To  turn  the 
heart    "pregnant    with    celestial    fire"    to    community 


PAGEANT     SCENES     AS     GIVEN     UY     A     SCHOOL     FOR     SOLTHERN 

HIGHLANDERS 


IDEALS  179 

themes  is  not  only  sound  conservationist  policy  but  also 
the  best  way  to  make  genius  permanently  serve  the 
nation.  Nothing  evens  up  as  between  communities  like 
the  presence  of  genius  which  knows  neither  little  nor 
big.  It  occurred  to  a  New  Hampshire  village  of  two 
hundred  people  to  become  a  bird  sanctuary,  where  wild 
life  should  be  sacred.  After  that  the  poets  could  not 
be  kept  away.  A  dramatist  put  the  story  into  beautiful 
symbols;  a  president's  daughter  danced  it;  there  was 
nothing  finer  of  its  sort  on  earth. ^" 

Now  the  shrine  may  be  as  wonderful  as  the  cathedral. 
Little  Bethlehem  has  no  rivals  among  the  princes  of 
Judah.  There  are  plenty  of  fine  thoughts  yet  to  be  con- 
ceived of  the  spirit  of  life,  and  any  little  town  may  put 
itself  permanently  upon  the  map  by  mothering  one  of 
them  and  telling  the  world  about  it. 

10  American  City,  X,  p.  355. 


VIII 
THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS 

The  Agencies  of  Community  Betterment.  Repeated 
surveys  have  shown  that  the  typical  little  town  which 
has  developed  as  a  centre  of  an  agricultural  community, 
possesses  from  twenty  to  forty  distinct  organizations 
chiefly  churches,  schools,  clubs  and  lodges,  all  of  which 
are  potential  and  occasionally  actual  agencies  of  civic 
betterment;  but  none  of  which  has  or  feels  condemned 
for  not  having  a  consistent  and  permanent  civic  out- 
look and  program.  So  informal  are  the  relations  be- 
tween them  and  so  uncertain  the  bounds  of  their  func- 
tions and  responsibilities,  that  almost  any  organization 
may  on  occasion  initiate  a  movement  for  almost  any  of 
the  town's  possibilities.  It  all  depends  upon  who  gets 
the  idea  first.  In  community  movements  the  natural 
leaders  simply  follow  the  bias  of  their  own  interests. 
The  minister  turns  to  the  church,  the  merchant  to  the 
commercial  group,  the  teacher  to  the  school,  the  tem- 
porary official  to  town  government,  the  farmer  to  the 
grange,  the  woman  to  her  club.  No  one  claims  a  bal- 
anced view  of  civic  resources,  nor  has  any  one  studied 
their  functional  characteristics  and  the  natural  inter- 
relationships of  the  various  agencies  available. 

Charabter  and  Calibre  of  Little  Town  Leadership. 
The  one  thing  certain  is  that  whoever  turns  his  hand 
to   any  community  interest  will  be  an  amateur.     The 

180 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  181 

social  expert  in  the  urban  sense  cannot  be  afforded  and 
the  town  would  not  tolerate  a  city  brand  of  efficiency 
if  it  could.  Personality  and  personal  relations  remain 
the  central  interests  of  the  little  town.  The  town's 
leader  will  be  the  volunteer,  one  of  its  own  sort  who.se 
calibre  may  be  judged  by  the  averaf^e  pulpit  or  weekly 
paper  of  such  a  community.  lie  must  be  skilled  first  of 
all  in  dealing  with  people,  in  placating  them,  in  making 
individual  allowances.  These  capacities  will  bulk  larger 
than  any  technical  expertness.  This  is  both  strength 
and  limitation;  but  at  any  rate  it  is  a  permanent  con- 
dition which  shuts  up  civic  betterment  to  the  working 
out  of  this  and  that  specific  mea.sure  through  such  proc- 
esses as  will  convince  ordinary  people  of  its  desirabil- 
ity, one  at  a  time.  This  robust  democratic  policy,  with 
its  thorough-going  honesty,  assures  substantial  quality 
to  the  little  town's  achievements.  In  the  long  run  it 
gets  what  it  goes  after. 

Availability  of  World-Experience.  When  one  has 
said  this  he  must  in  candour  add  that  the  average  com- 
munity takes  a  long  road  to  its  civic  Canaan  and  wastes 
much  time  wandering  in  the  wilderness — as  though  no 
one  had  ever  been  that  way  before.  In  such  a  world 
as  ours  even  the  inexpert  voluntary  worker  need  not 
work  in  the  dark.  He  must  use  or  at  least  appreciate 
varied  and  often  highly  technical  tools  and  must  some- 
how make  them  all  work  to  a  common  end.  Why  then 
should  he  not  consult  the  man  who  made  the  tools  ?  The 
beauty  of  fresh  social  initiative  in  the  obscure  village 
does  not  compensate  for  the  folly  of  repeating  errors  a 
thousand  times.  Our  frequent  misdirections  of  civic 
zeal  are  largely  gratuitous  in  view  of  the  available  so- 


182  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

cial  assets  of  the  nation.  One  may  learn  by  making 
the  same  mistake  that  others  have  made,  but  the  educa- 
tional economy  of  this  method  is  doubtful.  It  is  obvi- 
ously most  important  therefore,  that  the  collective  in- 
telligence of  the  little  town,  as  incarnated  in  its  volun- 
tary civic  leaders,  shall  somehow  take  stock  of  its  tools 
before  beginning  its  work;  that  so  far  as  possible  the 
right  tools  be  used  in  the  right  place  and  approved  and 
standardized  methods  followed.  Especially  important  is 
it  that  there  be  such  an  understanding  of  the  total  forces 
operating  for  town  betterment  and  of  their  mutual  rela- 
tions as  shall  prevent  them  from  blocking  and  neutral- 
izing one  another. 

INTERNAL   RESOURCES  OF   COMMUNITY   BETTERMENT 

Governmental  and  Voluntary  Agencies.  The  in- 
ternal resources  of  the  little  town  consist  of  a  group 
of  governmental  and  voluntary  agencies  intersphering 
in  interesting  fashion.  Such  intersphering  is  more  char- 
acteristic and  complete  in  such  communities  than  in  any 
other  phase  of  civilization.  Thus,  it  is  rather  expected 
that  the  library  building  will  be  a  private  benefaction 
though  its  support  will  be  taxation.  When  a  municipal 
bond  sale  fails  to  yield  sufficient  resources,  Spring  Val- 
ley, Wis.,  very  naturally  turns  to  supplementary  private 
subscriptions  to  build  its  town  hall.  The  little  town's 
school  is  everywhere  a  legal  minimum  and  a  voluntary 
maximum.  It  is  supposed  to  depend  for  its  excellence 
upon  popular  interest  and  loyalty.  Whole  sections  of 
the  country,  notably  the  South,  assume  that  voluntary 
contributions  will  supplement  state  and  local  funds  in 
the    erection    of    school    plants.     Charity,    public    and 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  183 

private,  is  regularly  and  ui'ten  viinously  interinin^led. 
The  laws  of  nearly  every  state  provide  at  certain  points 
for  the  co-operation  of  governmental  machinery  and 
voluntary  civic  organizations  in  local  communities. 
Thus,  Missouri  authorizes  towns  to  appoint  nurses  to 
co-operate  with  voluntary  ajiti-tuberculosis  societies, 
Kansas  allows  them  to  use  taxpayers'  money  to  pay 
membership  fees  in  the  State  League  of  Municipalities 
— a  voluntary  agency.  As  everywhere  else,  but  in  the 
little  town  especially,  any  civic  pioneering  involving  new 
vision,  thought,  sacrifice  or  money,  will  have  to  depend 
upon  private  initiative  to  start  the  wheels  of  govern- 
ment. 

Alternatives  as  Between  Tools.  Under  simple  con- 
ditions, the  processes  necessary  to  persuade  a  com- 
munity to  vote  a  bond  issue  are  essentially  identical  with 
those  which  induce  it  to  make  a  popular  subscription; 
and  the  movement  of  civic  life  is  equally  democratic 
whichever  alternative  is  chosen.  The  recognized  munic- 
ipal functions,  of  course,  should  not  be  allowed  to  lapse 
back  upon  private  virtue  for  exercise  and  support ;  but 
in  most  fields  of  town  improvement  it  will  make  little 
difference  whether  the  governmental  or  the  voluntary 
resource  is  called  upon  in  a  given  case.  Provided  pa- 
ternal corporations  and  wealthy  alien  benefactors  do 
not  intervene,  one  method  is  not  essentially  better  than 
the  other.  It  all  depends  upon  the  town  and  the  cir- 
cumstances. Rigid  discrimination  between  the  proper 
functions  of  civil  government  and  of  voluntary  organ- 
ization is  at  least  unnecessary.  Furthermore,  the  limited 
taxing  and  borrowing  powers  of  the  little  town  will 
compel  it  for  a  long  time  to  look  to  collective  philan- 


184  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

thropy  for  many  things  which  the  city  does  as  a  city. 
The  real  test  of  good  or  bad  in  civic  betterment  is 
whether  its  movement  is  genuinely  democratic,  founded 
in  the  community  consciousness  and  will. 

The  Re-shaping  of  All  Tools.  This  large  alternative 
as  to  the  use  of  agencies,  greatly  simplifies  the  civic 
problems  of  the  little  town.  On  the  other  hand  it  can- 
not escape  its  share  in  the  radical  re-shaping  of  insti- 
tutions and  social  agencies  which  the  whole  world  is  ex- 
periencing. Nowhere  are  the  old  civil  forms  or  the 
old  voluntary  institutions,  or  both  together,  adequate 
for  the  present  day  tasks  of  the  community.  The  modi- 
fication of  the  old  tools  by  new  purposes  is  everywhere 
under  way.  The  alternatives  here  are  between  the  re- 
direction of  the  old  or  the  substitution  of  new  agencies 
of  social  will.  There  are  those  who  temperamentally 
incline  to  the  keeping  and  re-making  of  old  tools;  and 
those  who  tend  to  abandon  them  for  new  ones,  on  slight 
provocation.  These  divide  into  different  camps  and 
their  differences  largely  shape  the  working  programs  of 
all  communities.  The  little  town  need  not  stop  for  long 
debate  as  to  whether  its  council  should  order  a  needed 
improvement  or  whether  a  citizens'  organization  shall 
take  it  up  and  finance  it.  The  issue  here  is  largely  of 
practical  convenience.  On  the  other  hand,  the  whole 
conception  of  local  government  is  being  revolutionized. 
This  necessitates  re-definition  of  all  its  powers  and  func- 
tions. A  new  set  of  basic  ideas  has  come  to  underlie 
institutions,  involving  their  profound  internal  reorgan- 
ization ;  while  new  forms  of  organization  are  emerging 
to  match  the  enlarged  activities  of  community  life.  In 
these  respects  the  little  town's  solutions  of  its  problems 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  185 

simply  must  not  remain  conventional.  What  new  reach 
do  civil  powers  need?  Through  what  new  agencies 
should  they  be  shaped  to  their  task?  How  do  the  ideal 
possibilities  which  challenge  our  towns  relate  themselves 
to  existing  institutions?  Should  the  school,  for  example, 
be  empowered  to  condemn  land  for  the  site  of  a  play- 
ground? When  the  school  gets  an  enlarged  playground 
is  that  enough  for  the  community?  Does  the  church 
need  one  also?  How  is  the  play  of  children  related  to 
the  sports  of  youth  and  the  recreation  of  adults  in  a 
complete  curriculum  of  recreation  for  the  entire  popu- 
lation? Is  the  play  impulse  to  be  expressed  through 
existing  institutions,  or  is  it  so  basic  in  importance  as 
to  demand  direct  institutional  expression  through  some 
new  agency  which  is  recreational  and  nothing  else? 
These  are  typical  of  the  questions  needing  to  be  asked 
in  every  sphere  of  town  improvement  before  the  proper 
adjustment  of  its  older  and  newer  resources  is  made. 
Through  their  painstaking  answers  the  tools  of  collec- 
tive purpose  are  being  selected  and  shaped. 

EXTERNAL   RESOURCES   OF    COMMUNITY   BETTERMENT 

Of  external  resources  the  to^Noi  has  a  vast  array  of 
helpful  agencies,  public  and  voluntary,  existing  on  the 
state-wide,  nation-wide  and  even  world-wide  scale. 
These  constitute  the  contribution  of  the  town's  world 
to  its  local  problem.  Many  are  the  officers,  many  the 
prophets  ready  to  tell  it  its  duty.  The  total  social  re- 
sources of  civilization  are  ready  to  be  focused  upon 
the  smallest  community. 

The  County.  First,  there  are  the  regular  officials  of 
county   government,    essentially    representative    of    the 


186  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

state,  whose  jurisdiction  (frequently  with  that  of  the 
township  as  well)  covers  the  little  town,  and  who  help 
or  hinder  it  with  its  problems  of  safety,  education,  poor 
relief  and  the  like.  County  government  links  the  little 
town  with  the  open  country  from  which  the  town  has 
usually  severed  itself  by  incorporation,  and  so  far  tends 
to  keep  alive  vital  relationships.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  existence  in  the  same  area  of  two  sets  of  minor  offi- 
cials with  duplicatory  jurisdiction  tends  to  complicate 
matters  and  to  defeat  united  social  action.  No  good 
reason  can  now  be  given  for  the  division  of  powers 
between  county  and  local  government  as  it  exists  in 
much  of  the  nation. 

How  the  County  Helps.  That  the  county  does  help 
in  social  progress  is  undeniable.  Indeed  large  use  of  it 
is  being  made  by  some  of  the  most  outstanding  move- 
ments for  community  betterment.  The  county  library 
system  exists  in  an  important  group  of  states.  "Where 
the  usefulness  of  the  library  formerly  ended  with  the 
town  limits,  or  with  the  few  farmers  intelligent  enough 
to  pay  a  fee  for  the  use  of  books,  the  county  system 
is  willing  to  include  both  town  and  country  in  an 
effort  to  universalize  library  privileges.  In  the  South, 
where  the  smaller  units  of  local  government  have  little 
prestige  or  strength,  civic  idealism  naturally  tends  to 
express  itself  through  county  movements.  A  capital 
example  is  that  of  the  transformation  of  the  ancient 
colonial  courthouse  of  Eowan  County,  North  Carolina 
into  a  community  centre  on  a  large  scale,  housing  the 
whole  group  of  betterment  agencies  both  of  city  and 
country.^     Agricultural  betterment  through  state  and 

1  Town  Development,  XII,  p.  106, 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  187 

Federal  agents  and  funds  has  naturally  followed  exist- 
ing political  divisions.  The  county  has  thus  become  its 
most  frequent  unit  of  organization.  The  rural  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  usually  adopts  the  county  as  its  administrative 
unit.  It  has  been  authoritatively  proposed  as  the  nat- 
ural area  for  church  federation.  And  above  all,  recent 
educational  progress  has  made  some  of  its  most  marked 
and  rnpid  strides  under  county  administration. - 

The  County's  Limited  Usefulness.  In  spite  of  all 
this,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  county  is  a  natural  agent 
for  most  of  the  better  things  which  communities  ought 
to  do,  and  whether  the  tendency  toward  the  use  of  the 
county  unit  is  really  desirable.  County  organization, 
in  the  first  place,  "is  created  almost  exclusively  with 
a  view  to  the  policy  of  the  state  at  large " ;  ^  it  does 
not  originate  in  the  concrete  needs  of  communities,  nor 
is  it  designed  to  meet  them.  Second,  the  county  unit 
of  administration  was  an  advantage  even  from  the 
standpoint  of  general  government  only  so  long  as  popu- 
lation was  sparse,  means  of  communication  slow,  com- 
munity life  poorly  organized  and  state  agents  inexpert. 
Over  most  of  the  area  of  the  nation,  these  conditions  are 
rapidly  passing  where  they  have  not  passed.  Popula- 
tion combines  naturally  into  administrative  units 
smaller  than  the  ordinary  county ;  distances  shrink  with 
transit  facilities;  social  life  is  more  complicated;  the 
state  has  more  and  better  agents.  The  current  successes 
therefore  of  county  betterment  movements  are  to  be 
credited  to  convenience  and  coincidence  rather  than  to 
the  excellence  of  the  county  as  a  social  tool.     Thus,  in 

2  Cubberley,  "Rural  Life  and  Education."  p.  230. 
s  Fairlie,  "Local  Government,"  p.  64. 


188  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

its  early  stages,  when  a  constructive  social  movement 
must  spread  itself  out  thin, — when  there  is  only  money 
enough  to  pay  one  expert  or  executive,  it  is  natural 
enough  to  make  him  a  county  agent.  But  this  is  a 
temporary  expedient.  Its  success  is  a  success  of  con- 
venience. Ultimately  organization  will  follow  natural 
community  lines.  Again,  where  an  enterprising  city 
undertakes  to  lead  the  community  development  of  its 
dependent  rural  population,  it  may  easily  be  that  the 
natural  community  area  roughly  corresponds  to  county 
lines.  Excellent  examples  are  the  county  farm  bureaus 
fostered  by  many  Boards  of  Trade  with  Federal  co- 
operation. The  county  unit  is  used  advantageously  be- 
cause of  its  coincidence  with  a  more  vital  social  unit. 

Over-praise  of  the  County.  Admitting  the  limited 
usefulness  of  the  county  as  an  administrative  unit  for 
community  improvement  is  quite  different  from  the 
excess  admiration  which  is  being  poured  out  upon  it  in 
quarters  from  which  greater  discrimination  was  to  be 
expected.  The  county  shows  the  easy  success  of  elemen- 
tary efficiency  in  contrast  with  stupid  and  intolerable 
localism.  It  provides  one  expert  in  an  area  which  had 
had  none.  So  long  as  a  more  fundamental  unit  of 
local  government  is  not  developed,  the  county  will  fur- 
nish— in  the  absence  of  cities — the  area  of  sufficient 
size  and  dignity  to  demand  ordinary  attention;  and 
civic  progress  will  have  to  depend  upon  it  to  some  ex- 
tent. It  does  not,  however,  mark  an  ultimate  social 
readjustment. 

Growing  Activity  of  the  State.  Just  so  far  as  the 
natural  "rurban"  organization  of  rural  and  town  so- 
ciety is  recognized,  it  will  be  seen  to  present  communi- 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  189 

ties  fitted  to  have  direct  dealings  with  the  state.  The 
county  will  keep  some  of  its  old  functions;  it  is  not 
likely  to  be  the  vehicle  of  the  newer  civic  life.  In- 
creasingly the  state  is  entering  into  immediate  relations 
with  towns.  It  frequently  creates  them  by  special 
charter  and  makes  special  laws  for  them.  State  ex- 
perts and  representatives  of  state  universities  are  di- 
rectly available  on  call  for  assistance  in  many  local 
social  problems.  The  tendency  is  toward  strongly  cen- 
tralized state  school  systems  which  inspect  and  sub- 
sidize town  schools.  These  schools  in  town  keep  an- 
nexing more  and  more  of  the  country  to  their  districts, 
leaving  less  and  less  under  exclusive  county  supervi- 
sion. Other  direct  ministries  of  the  state  have  devel- 
oped. The  University  of  Wisconsin  is  ready  to  be- 
come engineer,  retail  salesman,  communit}^  musician  or 
social  organizer  to  the  little  towns  of  its  state.  The 
Kansas  Agricultural  College  has  directly  fostered  the 
local  organization  of  Boy  Scout  troops  throughout  the 
state.*  In  1915  the  Municipal  Reference  Bureau  of  the 
University  of  Kansas  served  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
towns  with  information  on  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  problems,  including  the  drafting  of  ordinances, 
legal  advice,  engineering  data,  and  community  organ- 
ization. i\Iore  than  half  of  these  towns  had  less  than 
two  thousand  population.  In  the  matter  of  agricul- 
tural betterment  it  is  largely  the  money  of  the  United 
States  which  makes  such  service  possible.  In  this  realm 
the  nation  itself  is  put  at  the  service  of  the  little  town. 
The  Town's  World.  An  impressive  array  of  volun- 
tary betterment  organizations  proclaim  the  active  ideal- 

♦  McKeever,  "Farm  Boys  and  Girls,"  p.  166. 


190  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ism  of  our  age,  and  are  largely  available  for  the  small 
community.  In  most  cases  they  originated  with  groups 
of  local  organizations  which  became  federated,  and  now 
on  national  scale  are  attempting  to  centralize  and  di- 
rect their  peculiar  interests, — each  with  a  system  of 
propaganda  and  financial  support  through  publicity, 
conventions,  exhibits,  the  visitation  of  experts  and  the 
organizations  of  local  branches  or  chapters.  Thus  there 
are  the  national,  district  and  state  commercial  organiza- 
tions, linking  the  commercial  club  or  board  of  trade 
of  the  little  town  with  the  total  commercial  movement 
of  the  nation.  The  educational  field  is  closely  covered 
over  with  helpful  organizations.  Does  the  little  town 
want  to  perfect  its  machinery  of  social  betterment  in  any 
direction,  there  is  almost  sure  to  be  a  national  agency 
with  its  literature,  leaders,  standardized  methods  and 
experts  available  for  assistance.  The  Playground  and 
Recreation  Association  of  America,  the  national  organ- 
ization of  boys'  clubs,  the  Boy  Scouts'  and  Camp  Fire 
Girls'  organizations,  are  shining  examples;  not  to  speak 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A. 

The  Great  Religious  and  Civic  Movements.  The 
great  Christian  agencies,  denominational  and  interde- 
nominational, constitute  another  important  group  of 
helps  available  for  the  little  town.  Few  realize  how 
much  more  they  are  than  sectarian  movements.  They 
are  essentially  nationalizing  agencies  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude, the  earliest  to  inculcate  civic  virtue  through  or- 
ganization reaching  every  obscure  community,  and  quick 
to  add  the  social  message  of  the  gospel  to  their  pro- 
paganda. Home  missions  has  all  along  involved  states- 
manship of  a  high  order.     Most  of  these  agencies  now 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  191 

have  their  programs  of  social  service  and  their  social 
experts,  sometimes  equally  competent  with  those  of  the 
state  or  the  universities.  Much  of  their  work  is  being 
done  in  the  same  progressive  and  scientific  spirit  found 
in  the  world  of  education  and  social  organization.  The 
various  civic  federations  and  movements,  ostensibly  of 
state  or  national  scope,  attempt  to  focalize  the  total 
movement  of  community  betterment.  Their  claims  are 
frequently  inflated,  but  they  do  invaluable  service  as 
evangelists  of  ideals  and  in  disseminating  specific  in- 
formation. All  told,  the  danger  of  the  little  town  would 
seem  to  be  pauperization  rather  than  poverty  of  civic 
impulse.  There  are  so  many  gofKl  things  forcing  them- 
selves upon  it  that  it  must  learn  to  choose,  and  especially 
to  adapt  them  to  its  scale  of  needs  and  resources.  The 
wider  agencies,  civil  and  voluntary,  themselves  inter- 
sphere  on  the  state  or  national  plane.  There  are  federa- 
tions of  federations,  of  denominations  and  of  the  great 
religious  movements.  Especially  important  are  the 
state  Leagues  of  Municipalities  in  which  town  officials 
unite  on  a  voluntary  basis  in  discussion  of  mutual  prob- 
lems and  methods.  Some  states  have  given  legal  rec- 
ognition to  such  Leagues,  in  providing  for  their  sup- 
port from  municipal  membership  fees  appropriated  by 
town  governments.  They  constitute  a  sort  of  third  house 
in  local  government  which  may  reach  equal  importance 
with  agencies  which  are  directly  ordained  by  law. 

The  Disappearance  of  the  Village,  Taken  altogether 
these  wider  agencies  express  the  rich  and  varied  social 
resources  of  the  town's  world.  They  furnish  the  scien- 
tific merging  of  experience,  the  standards  and  largely 
the  experts  which  the  single  little  town  cannot  furnish. 


192  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

and  which  the  group  of  little  towns  cannot  develop. 
Community  problems  are  not  to  be  faced  in  isolation 
but  with  an  active  civilization  at  one's  back.  In  view 
of  this  condition,  the  solemn  re-discovery  by  social 
students  of  the  essentially  non-progressive  character  of 
the  isolated  village  need  fill  no  one  with  dismay.^  To  be 
sure  its  most  forceful  and  inventive  children  are  always 
moving  away  to  the  city.  They  go  but  to  return  in  the 
constant  stream  of  stimulating  and  fructifying  influ- 
ences which  America  is  focusing  upon  the  smaller  com- 
munities. There  need  be  no  more  villages  in  the  earlier 
sense.     The  world  can  reach  its  towns  if  they  will  let  it. 

THE  town's  use  OP  ITS  RESOURCES 

Deficiencies  of  Local  Government.  How  idyllic  the 
picture  of  the  twelve  thousand  little  towns  of  the  nation, 
each  working  out  its  social  destiny  with  the  rich  re- 
enforcement  of  a  helpful  world!  Somehow  it  does  not 
entirely  harmonize  with  the  working  conditions  of 
American  local  communities.  The  little  town  is  not  as 
free  nor  can  the  political  world  be  as  helpful  as  if  gov- 
ernmental forms  more  directly  expressed  the  natural 
social  relationships  of  the  little  town  and  its  country. 
This,  as  has  been  repeatedly  insisted,  they  signally  fail 
to  do.  Our  political  institutions  were  formed  in  an 
age  which  dreaded  government  as  an  external  compul- 
sion, and  which  dared  not  trust  it  as  an  organ  of  social 
purpose.  Local  government  followed  the  pattern  of 
extreme  decentralization  which  characterized  national 
government.  As  it  has  turned  out,  multitudes  of 
municipalities  distributed  through  most  of  the  area  of 

5  Sims,  "A  Hoosier  Village,"  p.  180  f. 


THE  TO\YN'S  TOOLS  lOa 

the  nation  are  under  four  jurisdictions — township, 
county  and  state  officers  having  direct  authority  witliin 
their  borders  along  with  their  own.®  In  each  civil  unit 
down  to  the  smallest  the  division  of  responsibility  tends 
to  be  exact  and  minute.  Not  only  does  the  distinction 
between  the  executive,  legislative  and  judicial  depart- 
ments of  government  obtrude  into  the  civil  macliinery 
of  the  little  town,  but  such  matters  as  schools,  libraries 
and  public  health  are  taken  "out  of  politics"  and  dele- 
gated to  other  and  various  hands.  In  consequence 
there  is  a  multitude  of  minor  officials,  all  inexpert,  per- 
forming small  functions  informally  and  incidentally 
while  carrying  on  private  vocations.  They  are  gener- 
ally honest  and  perform  their  duties  with  a  maximum 
of  human  feeling.  A  Maine  sea  captain  was  elected 
tax  collector  in  a  rural  town  and  sailed  away  leaving 
his  duties  to  his  daughter,  then  away  at  high  school. 
She  came  home  Friday  nights  and  Saturdays  and  went 
from  house  to  house,  first  presenting  the  tax  bill;  then, 
according  to  local  etiquette  going  again  and  again  to 
receive  payment  by  instalments,  if  necessary.  It  some- 
times took  three  visits  to  get  forty  cents,  that  being  the 
tax  rate  on  the  family  cow.  Finally  every  cent  would 
be  collected.  Such  is  actual  government.  The  case 
fairly  typifies  the  spirit  and  methods  of  thousands  of 
local  officials  in  all  the  civil  units  below  the  county, 
almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  nation.  The  county 
has  another  and  less  amiable  storA'.  Now  civic  improve- 
ment must  use  such  officials  as  American  local  govern- 
ment furnishes.  It  must  struggle  with  cumbersome  and 
divisive  machinery.     It  must  work  through  a  bewilder- 

eFairlie,  "Local  Government,"  pp.  165-173. 


194  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ing  variety  of  local  officials,  many  of  them  not  primarily 
elected  by  the  town's  people,  nor  directly  amenable  to 
civic  purpose.  It  needs  at  least  to  be  disentangled  from 
this  embarrassing  complexity  of  jurisdiction. 

Municipal  Government.  The  little  town's  own  ma- 
chinery is  an  unintelligent  imitation  of  that  of  state  and 
nation.  It  does,  however,  intimately  reflect  civic  pur- 
pose in  certain  forms.  While  the  township  or  other 
officer  is  generally  elected  on  the  platform  that  he  wants 
or  needs  the  office,  the  mayor  and  councilman  almost 
invariably  go  into  office  upon  some  measure  of  town 
policy, — a  bond  issue,  an  enforcement  of  the  liquor  laws, 
or  the  like.  Frequently  indeed,  the  civic  issue  is  ob- 
scured by  the  question  of  which  candidate  is  the  better 
fellow;  for  town  government  is  full  of  the  flavour  of 
personal  relations.  Nevertheless,  here  are  clear  begin- 
nings of  civic  consciousness  and  purpose.  While  the 
other  local  officials  are  still  performing  routine  functions 
in  the  light  of  unillumined  personal  honesty,  the  typical 
town  official  is  compelled  to  reach  something  of  com- 
munity vision  and  gets  a  trace  of  that  secondary  social 
personality  which  makes  him  at  least  a  possible  agent  of 
community  betterment.  It  is  by  no  means  that  he  is  the 
better  man,  but  simply  that  he  has  the  better  backing. 
He  represents  a  natural  social  unit,  or  rather  the  centre 
of  one,  and  incarnates  its  spirit  and  ideals.  He  deals 
with  centralized  and  easily  visualized  immediate  issues 
involving  the  real  exercise  of  community  mind  and  will. 

Commission  Government.  This  conclusion  implies 
some  doubt  as  to  the  exceptional  efficiency  of  the  com- 
mission form  of  government  for  the  little  town.  Its 
present  vogue  in  America  has  swept  it  quite  extensively 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  195 

into  the  smaller  municipalities;  but  by  imitation  rather 
than  by  real  affinity  for  them.  The  essential  merit  of  the 
commission  is  that  it  meets  certain  distinctive  needs 
and  corrects  the  most  crying  evils  of  city  government. 
In  cities,  civic  issues  are  so  numerous  and  complicated, 
the  community  is  so  confused  and  changing,  emergencies 
are  so  acute  and  frequent  technical  decisions  so  neces- 
sary that  citizenship  collapses  under  the  burden  and  the 
ordinary  elective  representatives  of  the  people  are  un- 
equal to  the  task.  The  addition  of  an  endless  succession 
of  departments  and  bureaus  completes  the  catastrophe. 
The  habitual  bad  government  of  American  cities  is  both 
contributory  cause  and  consequence  of  the  general  sit- 
uation. Under  such  circumstances  the  centralization  of 
responsibility  in  a  few  men  who  employ  the  experts 
necessary  to  operate  the  city's  functions  on  a  non- 
political  basis,  is  a  swift  cutting  of  the  Gordian  Knot. 
But  such  conditions  do  not  characterize  the  little  town. 
Civic  issues  are  relatively  few,  simple  and  capable  of 
popular  understanding,  while  the  town  business  is  largely 
within  the  capacities  of  the  average  man  backed  by  com- 
munity intelligence.  Under  these  conditions  a  com- 
mission  is  no  particular  advance  upon  mayor  and  coun- 
cilmen.  It  cannot  command  any  other  type  of  men  for 
there  are  none;  and  where  everybody  knows  everybody 
the  extreme  centralization  of  responsibility  simply  does 
not  apply ;  it  is  an  official  fiction  and  a  psychological  im- 
possibility. And  even  if  it  were  otherwise,  it  is  always 
better  for  a  democratic  community  to  deal  directly  with 
its  own  civic  problems  when  it  can  get  directly  at  them. 
The  Town  Manager  Plan.  This  plan  on  the  con- 
trary would  seem  to  offer  great  possibilities  to  the  little 


196  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

town  on  the  point  where  its  local  government  most  needs 
strengthening,  namely,  in  expert  technical  training. 
While  the  town  manager  is  an  outgrowth  of  commission 
government  as  developed  in  the  cities,  it  has  no  neces- 
sary connection  with  it — especially  in  its  application  to 
little-town  conditions.  It  may  as  easily  be  added  to  the 
ordinary  mayor  and  council  regime  as  to  the  commis- 
sion system.  Both  methods  have  been  used  by  the 
rather  limited  number  of  little  towns  which  have  en- 
gaged managers  up  to  date.  Thus  LeGrand  (Oregon) 
has  a  commission  of  three  members,  one  of  whom  is 
police  judge  and  "town  manager."  The  Iowa  law  of 
1915  on  the  contrary  allows  the  manager  simply  to  be 
grafted  onto  the  existing  town  government.  General- 
izations for  forty -five  cities  and  towns  which  have  man- 
agers, indicate  that  the  title  is  something  of  an  over- 
statement ;  it  is  usually  simply  the  business  and  engineer- 
ing functions  of  city  government  which  are  committed 
to  such  officials,  though  sometimes  the  control  of  police 
is  added.  An  engineer — possibly  the  manager  of  the 
municipal  lighting  plant,  or  a  former  school  superin- 
tendent is  the  type  of  man  so  far  usually  chosen.  In 
the  little  town  the  salaries  run  from  twelve  or  fifteen 
to  twenty-five  hundred  dollars.'^  This  is  immeasurably 
important  as  furnishing  the  possibility  of  one  trained 
man  who  gives  his  entire  time  to  the  business  of  the  town 
and  who  is  presumably  not  concerned  with  partisan 
politics.  A  new  profession,  with  exact  standards  of 
preparation,  may  in  time  grow  out  of  it.  It  is  hardly 
worth  advertising,  however,  as  a  new  system  of  local 
government  and  is  surely  no  substitute  for  a  general 

7  The  American  City,  XII,  p.  499  f. 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  1D7 

diffusion  of  civic  intelligence  and  devotion.  "Man- 
aged" or  not,  the  town  will  still  reflect  the  average  of 
its  people's  standards  and  aspirations. 

Legal  Powers  of  Little  Towns,  Beyond  its  admin- 
istrative changes  and  developments,  the  machinery  of 
town  government  is  adapting  itself  in  various  ways  to 
the  growing  sense  of  community  needs  and  possihilities. 
The  general  tendency  of  American  courts  has  been  to 
allow  government  to  take  on  a  multitude  of  functions 
under  the  general  welfare  clauses  of  our  constitutions. 
In  sympathy  with  this  tendency,  communities  are  find- 
ing that  they  can  do  almost  anything  which  they  want 
to  do  and  which  is  not  objected  to  by  a  considerable 
minority.  It  requires  only  the  assent  of  public  opinion 
to  include  a  playground  in  a  park,  or  rooms  for  the 
women's  clubs  in  a  public  library.  Probably  no  one 
will  say  "no"  after  officials  provide  rest  rooms  for  coun- 
try women  or  offices  for  betterment  organizations  in  a 
new  town  hall.  In  spite  of  the  precision  with  which 
the  law  books  define  functions  and  powers  of  government, 
the  informality  of  local  government  and  the  exercise  of 
administrative  discretion  leave  wide  opportunities  for 
civic  betterment.  States  general!}'  have  responded  rap- 
idly with  enabling  legislation.  Oregon  permits  towns 
to  amend  their  own  charters,  which  amounts  to  saying, 
"Do  anything  you  please."  In  a  few  states — for  ex- 
ample, Massachusetts,  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  even 
the  smallest  towns  may  create  town  planning  commis- 
sions— as  yet  with  advisor}'  powers  only — and  thus  be- 
gin to  control  the  physical  future  of  the  community. 
The  mass  of  detailed  legislation  in  similar  lines  is  im- 
pressive.    Missouri,     for     example,     in     1915,     besides 


198  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

strengthening  the  powers  of  little  towns  to  restrain  ani- 
mals running  at  large  and  to  abate  the  smoke  nuisance, 
conferred  the  right  to  issue  bonds  to  help  build  county 
bridges  beyond  their  corporate  limits;  also  to  appoint 
a  visiting  nurse  to  aid  any  anti-tuberculosis  organiza- 
tion. This  latter  was  made  mandatory  upon  petition 
of  a  reasonable  proportion  of  inhabitants.  The  former 
provision  recognized  the  partnership  of  the  town  with 
the  open  country;  the  latter  illustrated  that  interspher- 
ing  of  civil  and  voluntary  agencies  noted  in  a  former 
paragraph.  All  the  more  progressive  states  now  per- 
mit a  wide  civic  use  of  the  public  school  plant.  Thus, 
to  quote  Missouri  again,  the  law  of  1915  permits  school 
authorities  in  all  places  of  less  than  seventy-five  thou- 
sand population  to  give  free  use  of,  and  at  discretion 
to  furnish  free  heat,  light  and  janitor  service  for  "free 
discussion  of  public  questions,  for  meetings  of  organ- 
izations of  citizens,  and  for  such  other  civic,  social  and 
educational  purpose  as  will  not  interfere  with  the  prime 
purpose  to  which  such  houses,  buildings  and  grounds 
are  devoted."  The  New  York  law  includes  agricultural, 
athletic,  playground  and  social  centre  activities  as  proper 
uses  of  the  school  plant  and  authorizes  school  boards 
to  engage  supervisors  for  them  out  of  school  hours. 
Massachusetts  is  so  inclusive  as  to  lead  a  bulletin  of  its 
Civic  League  to  declare  that  the  people  of  that  state  may 
now  use  their  school  buildings  and  property  "pretty 
much  as  they  see  fit."  Kansas  passed  a  free  municipal 
band  concert  law  in  1915,  under  which  ten  little  towns 
spent  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  six  hundred  dollars 
each  during  the  first  year.  New  Jersey  recently  de- 
feated  a  constitutional   amendment    permitting   muni- 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  199 

cipalities  to  condemn  land  for  public  purposes  in  excess 
of  immediate  needs, — for  example,  the  lots  facing  a 
park  site.  Such  a  ri^^ht  would  hold  for  the  community 
the  unearned  ineremont  which  would  otherwise  go  to 
the  chance  individual  owner;  and  is  clearly  the  logical 
necessity  if  a  town  is  to  be  able  to  determine  its  own 
physical   plan. 

Special  Legislation.  When  general  legislation  fails, 
the  resource  of  special  legislation  remains.  This  is  not 
theoretically  defensii)le,  but  in  states  having  already 
many  municipalities  created  by  special  charter  it  is 
not  impossible  nor  unwise  to  get  enlarged  powers  di- 
rectly from  the  law-makers  of  the  state.  Thus  Spring 
Valley,  Wis.,  desiring  to  operate  a  town  hall  as  a  muni- 
cipal amusement  centre,  and  finding  no  warrant  in  law 
had  recourse  to  a  philanthropic  private  company,  pend- 
ing the  enactment  of  permissive  legislation.  xVU  told, 
what  a  town  can  do  under  the  law  depends  pretty  largely 
upon  what  it  wants  to  do,  and  how  deeply  and  genuinely 
it  wants  it.  Thus,  the  extensive  and  almost  dictatorial 
powers  of  local  health  officers  were  conceived  in  panic, 
and  have  been  generally'  effective  in  times  of  fear. 
Backed  by  intelligent  public  sentiment,  however,  they 
may  press  far  in  many  directions  of  community  better- 
ment. A  well  drawn  fire  ordinance  may  be  the  en- 
tering wedge  in  the  replanning  of  a  town.  The  model 
nuisance  ordinance  of  the  Kansas  League  of  Municipali- 
ties illustrates  the  far  reaching  possibilities  of  ordinary 
police  powers.  Declaring  that  "whatever  renders  the 
ground,  water,  air  or  food  hazardous  to  health''  is  a 
nuisance,  it  follows  with  specifications  as  to  refuse, 
water  pollution,  manure,  the  keeping  of  stock,  respon- 


200  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

sibility  for  weeds;  and  ends  with  provision  for  the  in- 
spection of  cesspools,  manure  pits  and  pig  pens.  With 
such  resources,  time  and  patience  can  achieve  almost 
anything  which  popular  will  genuinely  declares  neces- 
sary. 

A   NEW   BASIS   OF   LOCAL   GOVERNMENT 

The  Need  of  a  Natural  Unit.  If,  however,  the  main 
contention  of  this  book  is  true,  namely  that  the  natural 
community  includes  the  town  centre  with  the  surround- 
ing area  which  uses  it  as  a  trade  and  institutional  centre, 
no  powers  which  stop  on  the  town  limits  can  be  ade- 
quate for  the  expression  of  the  social  purpose  of  the 
community.  This  is  the  radical  problem  of  the  proper 
unit  of  local  government,  which  has  emerged  repeatedly 
in  the  previous  discussion.  At  present  the  need  is  very 
inadequately  sensed;  but  local  government  cannot  for 
ever  rest  on  a  purely  arbitrary  basis.  As  government 
becomes  a  direct  expression  of  popular  will  it  must 
necessarily  be  operative  by  such  units  as  can  have  a 
common  social  mind — that  is  by  natural  communities; 
if  for  no  other  reason  because  only  by  such  communities 
will  it  be  given  financial  support.  As  it  is  the  com- 
munity is  deprived  of  the  taxes  of  the  part  probably 
best  able  to  pay.  The  farmer  uses  the  town,  but  evades 
its  civic  responsibilities.  It  should  be  made  more  use- 
ful to  him — so  useful  that  he  will  be  willing  as  well  as 
compelled  to  pay  the  cost  of  extended  local  govern- 
ment. 

The  Natural  School  District.  In  the  realm  of  educa- 
tion the  identification  of  the  natural  with  the  legal 
community  is  being  realized  to  a  considerable  extent  by 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  201 

the  union  hij^'h  .school  movement  in  its  various  forms. 
In  many  states  the  town  has  long  had  an  independent 
school  district  somewhat  larger  than  its  municipal  limits. 
It  was  patronized  also  by  many  country  youth  liv- 
ing beyond  the  district.  Tliese  paid  tuition  in  lieu  of 
taxes,  and  were  admitted  or  not  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
town  educational  authorities.  The  next  step  was  to  au- 
thorize the  township  to  pay  the  tuition  for  its  hi<^h 
school  pupils  in  the  town  school  and  to  compel  the  school 
to  receive  them  if  it  had  room.  Here  many  states  stuck ; 
the  more  progressive,  however,  have  enacted  union  high 
school  laws.  Thus  in  "Wisconsin  any  contiguous  area 
of  thirty-six  square  miles  defined  by  section  lines,  may 
organize  itself  for  high  school  support  and  maintenance. 
So  far  forth  this  allows  the  town  centre  to  associate  its 
dependent  country  with  it  in  the  secondary  phase  of 
education.  But  the  trade  area  of  a  town  of  three  thou- 
sand population  in  a  Northwestern  state  with  average 
density  of  population  may  be  a  hundred  square  miles 
instead  of  thirty-six.  ^linnesota  therefore  goes  further : 
any  county,  upon  petition  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  its 
residents,  must  appoint  a  county  school  survey  com- 
mission which  re-districts  the  county  on  the  basis  of 
actual  communities.  Education  is  thus  freed  from  arbi- 
trary political  units  and  allowed  to  organize  on  a  basis 
of  geographical  and  social  facts.  The  report  of  the 
commission  with  maps  and  diagrams  then  comes  before 
the  voters  in  a  special  election.  Under  this  law  Douglas 
County,  for  example — with  twenty  townships  and  six 
hundred  and  forty-eight  square  miles  of  area — reduced 
its  eighty-four  district  schools  to  twenty-four,  following 
in  the  main  natural  rather  than  township  boundaries. 


202  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Commenting  on  the  above  case,  Professor  Cubberley 
observes,  "If  established  in  a  little  village,  itself  the 
natural  centre  of  a  rural  community,  such  central  schools 
can  become  the  very  centre  both  of  the  village  and  of 
the  community  life."  *  This  feeling  after  the  "rurban" 
clue  to  educational  policy  is  significant,  but  its  logic 
goes  much  farther.  Douglas  County  has  eight  incor- 
porated towns  of  over  one  hundred  population.  If  its 
social  anatomy  were  studied  in  the  same  way  as  that 
of  Walworth  County,  Wisconsin  in  Chapter  III,^  it 
would  be  found  to  consist  of  not  more  than  eight  nat- 
ural communities.  The  twenty-four  present  schools 
would  fall  into  eight  groups,  giving  an  average  of  one 
central  and  two  subordinate  schools  for  each  group. 
Within  these  large  educational  parishes,  the  separate 
schools  would  be  related  in  ways  similar  to  those  of 
town  and  country  churches  discussed  under  the  col- 
legiate and  sector-and-zone  plans.^°  The  survey  method 
as  the  legal  basis  of  educational  organization  will  in- 
evitably lead  to  this  result.  It  must,  however,  not  be 
bound  by  county  lines.  Oregon  permits  any  area  which 
chooses  to  do  so,  to  detach  itself  from  other  high  school 
relations  and  to  set  itself  up  as  a  high  school  district, 
even  county  lines  being  ignored.  Its  law  enables  the 
natural  community  exactly  to  define  itself  and  to  assume 
as  a  whole  the  burden  of  supporting  its  chief  educational 
institutions. 

Other   Political   Uses   of  the   Natural   Community. 
Now  if  this  tendency  is  valid  in  the  educational  field 

8  Cubberley,  "Rural  Life  and  Education,"  p.  246  f. 

9  p.  61. 

10  p.  149. 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  203 

why  not  also  in  others,  in  wliich  c(}ually  the  natural 
community  includes  the  civic  centre  with  its  surround- 
ing country?  It  is  almost  obvious  that  the  administra- 
tion of  libraries  should  follow  identical  lines  with  that 
of  high  schools  and  that  the  library  will  find  the  high 
school  its  most  natural  and  economical  agency  of  cir- 
culation.'^ "The  Richland  Centre,  Wisconsin  commer- 
cial club  raised  forty-five  hundred  dollars  last  year  and 
gave  it  to  the  township  to  improve  country  roads." 
Civic  progress  literature  is  full  of  such  instances,  as 
it  should  be.  Certainly  the  road  system  of  a  town  and 
its  trade  area  are  essentially  one.  None  of  its  main 
arteries  stop  at  the  municipal  limits.  The  township 
should  no  more  support  its  roads  alone  than  the  town 
should  support  its  high  school.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  evident  that  the  remoter  parts  of  the  trade-community 
will  not  want  to  centre  their  lives  in  the  little  town 
in  all  respects.  The  most  ardent  school  consolidationist 
will  not  want  to  transport  the  smallest  children  eight 
or  ten  miles  from  the  outskirts  of  the  trade  area.  The 
secondary  system  of  roads  which  links  the  remoter  homes 
with  their  minor  centres  at  the  way-stations,  country 
church,  district  school  or  creamery  are  not  of  equal  im- 
portance to  the  entire  community  with  the  main 
travelled  roads. 

The  Scientific  Basis  of  Local  Government.  The  ideal 
system  of  local  government  would  be  reached  by  de- 
termining by  a  scientific  social  survey,  the  extent  of  the 
natural  community  in  its  largest  area,  and  then  by  es- 
tablishing civic  zones,  the  first  ending  with  the  side- 

'1  Dudgeon,  Administrative  T'nits  in  Library  Extension,  Bulletin 
American  Library  Association,  CXXX. 


204  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

walks  and  sewers,  the  second,  say  with  the  enlarged 
common  school  districts,  and  the  third,  with  the  farthest 
habitual  trade  boundaries.  Each  zone  would  have  com- 
mon government  with  respect  to  the  functions  which 
it  has  in  common  and  to  the  degree  that  they  are  avail- 
able to  the  entire  population.  Taxes  would  be  graded 
from  zone  to  zone  and  the  outer  zone  would  be  sub- 
divided into  minor  civil  districts  with  special  reference 
to  the  control  and  support  of  its  minor  centres.  All 
three  zones  would  be  equally  municipal  and  all  equally 
and  essentially  rural.  The  town  would  reach  out  to 
the  farthest  home  which  uses  its  streets  and  institutions, 
and  the  country  would  reach  clear  into  the  town  hall. 
The  arbitrary  inclusion  somewhere  of  that  minority  of 
families  which  now  use  more  than  one  trade-  or  ideals- 
centre  would  be  no  more  arbitrary  than  what  every  one 
suffers  from  existing  political  divisions.  The  total  ar- 
bitrariness of  the  situation  would  be  reduced  at  least 
ninety  per  cent.  In  the  early  stages  of  organizing  such 
local  government  the  designation  of  this  or  that  rival 
town  as  a  municipal  centre  would  be  determined  by 
popular  vote  as  the  selection  of  a  county  seat  is  now. 
If  a  mistake  were  made  the  same  processes  would  rectify 
it  as  are  now  necessary  to  change  a  wrongly  located 
county  seat.  All  practical  difficulties  which  beset  any 
form  of  government  would  doubtless  beset  this,  but  it 
would  be  based  on  the  natural  structure  of  society, 
whereas  present  government  is  artificially  based. 
Democracy  cannot  be  locally  expressed  to  good  advan- 
tage until  our  minor  civil  units  are  freed  from  the 
surveyor's  chain. 
For  the  Immediate  Future.     While  progress  is  be- 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  205 

ing  made  with  ama/iiig  rapidity,  as  the  local  (govern- 
ment situation  now  stands  in  America,  there  is  nothing 
to  do  but  to  sweep  along  the  majority  of  undistinguished 
officials,  with  their  brief  authority,  upon  the  main  stream 
of  popular  civic  intelligence.  Jim  is  mayor  this  year, 
and  Jim  is  just  a  little  better  or  just  a  little  worse  than 
the  rest  of  us.  The  series  of  Jims  accurately  strikes 
our  average.  So  far  as  opinion  goes,  minor  officials  bob 
up  and  down  like  corks  on  a  current.  It  is  only  the 
man  of  long  tenure  of  influence  (the  occasional  pastor 
or  school  superintendent,  or  more  frequently  the  man 
who  holds  no  office  at  all),  who  best  incarnates  the  deeper 
forces  of  civic  idealism  and  purpose. 

THE    UTILIZATION   OP   VOLUNTARY    RESOURCES 

Profusion  and  Confusion.  The  town's  chief  resource 
in  organization,  therefore,  will  be  found  in  that  group 
of  voluntary  agencies  with  a  community  outlook  which, 
expresses  the  unofficial  social  mindedness  of  the  people. 
The  helpful  modern  world  presses  such  agencies  in  great 
profusion  on  the  .small  community,  but  wath  their  num- 
ber and  conflicting  claims  profusion  indeed  often  be- 
comes confusion.  Some  one  has  estimated  that  if  the 
country  minister  should  present  all  the  "causes,"  ob- 
serve all  the  special  anniversaries  and  "days,"  and 
preach  all  the  special  sermons  urged  upon  him  by  in- 
terests from  outside  his  community,  he  would  have  time 
for  nothing  else.  Now,  the  big  world  doubtless  can 
use  somewhere  every  form  of  helpful  organization  which 
exploits  itself  and  asks  local  recruits  and  financial  sup- 
port. To  the  little  town,  however,  they  tend  to  be- 
come a  clutter  of  unrelated  and  misadjusted  distrac- 


206  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

tions.  Introduced  by  a  national  organization  or  Board, 
often  through  a  paid  organizer  who  sees  in  the  com- 
munity primarily  another  place  to  be  possessed  by  his 
organization,  they  naturally  culminate  in  jealousies  and 
competition.  Every  self-respecting  woman's  magazine 
would  gather  its  many  readers  into  some  far-flung  order 
of  Better  Home  Workers.  Every  enterprising  farm 
journal  promotes  its  private  Agricultural  Improvement 
League.  There  are  Milk  of  Human  Kindness  Associa- 
tions in  plenty  for  the  purpose  of  extending  newspaper 
circulation.  Insurance  companies  exploit  public  health 
movements.  There  are  semi-fraternal  "orders"  ready 
to  direct  the  lot  of  the  local  commercial  organization. 
The  town  boy  is  striven  for  by  several  competitive 
brands  of  Scouts,  and  the  allegiance  of  the  Sunday- 
School  teacher  is  disputed  between  denominational  and 
other  agencies.  All  told,  the  world's  resources  of  com- 
munity improvement  have  become  to  the  little  town  what 
William  James  said  the  world  must  be  to  the  new  baby: 
"One  big,  blooming,  buzzing  confusion." 

Principles  of  Selection.  It  is  not  the  province  of  this 
book  to  recommend  as  between  competing  agencies  for 
civic  good.  Rather,  its  fundamental  contention  is  that 
there  is  no  best  which  is  wanted  everywhere,  and  that 
the  value  of  any  proposed  method  of  improvement  de- 
pends upon  local  conditions.  It  is  possible  to  point  out, 
however,  some  helpful  principles  of  selection. 

Initiating  Agencies.  A  study  of  a  large  number  of 
community  betterment  movements  reveals  that  there  are 
four  agencies  of  the  little  town  which  most  commonly 
originate  them :  namely,  the  business  men 's  organiza- 
tion, or  the  woman's  club,  or  the  school  (or  its  alumni), 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  207 

or  the  church.  As  things  now  stand,  these  are  the  ac- 
cepted moulds  through  which  individual  intelligence 
and  conscience  seek  to  move  the  town  forward.  The 
man  with  civic  vision  goes  to  "Main  Street"  or  to  the 
women  of  the  community,  or  to  the  school-" marms"  and 
masters,  or  to  the  i)reachers.  The  effectiveness  of  what 
follows  depends  upon  their  wisdom  in  choosing  and 
adapting  from  the  many  typical  organizations  which 
the  age  furnishes. 

Standard  vs.  'Freak"  Organizations.  The  first  aid 
to  selection  is  the  discovery  that  the  multitude  of  or- 
ganizations falls  into  a  few  recognizable  types.  They 
are  not  nearly  so  different  as  their  names  frequently 
sound.  Nor  is  the  latest  civic  novelty  on  the  market 
always  the  best.  The  next  important  point  is  that  some 
which  are  superficially  alike  differ  in  the  soundness  of 
their  underlying  pedagogy  and  the  perfection  of  their 
technique.  Great  progress,  for  example,  has  been  made 
in  the  la.st  ten  years  in  organizations  for  boys  and  girls. 
It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  Boy  Scout  idea  con- 
tains the  maximum  which  has  yet  been  devised  of  whole- 
some appeal  to  boy  nature  on  its  many  sides.  It  is  as 
much  ahead  of  the  old  tools  for  work  with  boys  as  the 
automobile  is  faster  than  the  horse.  Generalizing,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  an  organization  is  to  be  preferred 
just  in  proportion  as  it  is  pedagogically  fundamental 
rather  than  superficial ;  as  its  character  is  typical  rather 
than  erratic ;  as  its  motive  is  single  hearted  rather  than 
ulterior  (in  short,  as  it  is  free  from  the  taint  of  finan- 
cial profit),  and  as  its  .scope  is  communal  rather  than 
sectarian  or  parochial.  The  leadership  of  the  state 
and    federal    bureaus    of    agriculture    is   more    reliable 


208  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

than  that  of  the  farm  journals.  That  of  the  universi- 
ties is  more  unselfish  than  that  of  the  trade  journal. 
That  of  the  state,  is  generally  broader  than  that  of  the 
sectarian  church.  It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  the 
little  town  learn  to  hitch  up  with  what  is  really  signifi.- 
eant,  fundamental,  and  altruistic. 

Supplementary  vs.  Rival  Organizations.  Especially 
available  and  natural  are  those  movements  which  sup- 
plement rather  than  rival  or  displace  existing  institu- 
tions, and  which  may  be  directly  assimilated  to  the 
community  as  it  is.  Thus,  the  Parent-Teachers'  Associa- 
tion links  the  home  and  the  school  in  ways  obviously 
helpful.  The  Boy  Scouts  and  Camp  Fire  Girls  join 
domestic  and  school  duties  with  active  boy  and  girl 
interests  in  their  requirements  for  honours  and  insignia. 
Eighty-five  per  cent,  of  Scout  organizations  have  been 
in  connection  with  Sunday-Schools.  Twenty-five  per 
cent,  of  Scout  masters  are  clergymen.  The  rural 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  movement  has  wisely  resolved  not  to  be- 
come a  separate  organization,  and  is  content  to  report 
its  work  in  the  number  of  communities  served  and  of 
men  and  boys  influenced  rather  than  by  membership 
statistics.  It  assists  and  co-operates  equally  with  the 
church  and  with  commercial  and  agricultural  better- 
ment movements  without  seeking  to  introduce  a  sepa- 
rate organization  of  its  own. 

The  Realm  of  Experiment  and  Adaptation.  Such 
tools  as  have  been  developed  for  the  service  of  the  more 
advanced  ideals  of  community  betterment  were  implied 
in  the  study  of  the  town's  possibilities.  Naturally, 
many  of  them  are  yet  in  the  experimental  stage,  and 
their  field  of  application  presents  many  alternatives.     It 


THE  TOWN'S  TOOLS  209 

is  not  to  be  desired  that  all  eomniunities  seek  and  SL'(.-ure 
their  ideals  in  the  same  ways.  The  community  centre 
idea,  for  example,  will  be  realized  now  througli  the 
school  and  in  the  schoolhouse,  now  through  and  in  the 
church,  and  now  through  special  organization,  or  by  the 
town  itself  through  the  municipal  hall.'-  In  the  larger 
little  towns,  it  seems  likely  that  a  number  of  major  com- 
munity interests  will  have  separate  organizations,  ulti- 
mately each  with  its  special  building  and  appropriate 
grounds  and  efjuipment.  In  towns  of  modiuiu  size,  the 
chances  are  that  it  is  better  to  concentrate  upon  the 
plant  and  property  of  the  high  school,  making  them 
available  for  the  use  of  all  the  legitimate  interests  of  all 
citizens.  It  thus  becomes  at  once  a  community  audi- 
torium, a  community  centre,  its  playground,  its  library, 
and  its  civic  forum.  In  the  smallest  village  communities, 
it  seems  clear  that  common  interest  will  ordinarily  have 
to  be  content  with  a  plain  community  hall  standing  be- 
tween the  church  and  the  neighbourhood  schoolhouse. 
Happily,  the  fields  and  forests  are  open  and  easily  ac- 
cessible to  communit}''  uses.  Yet,  even  here,  alterna- 
tives are  present.  It  may  be  better  for  the  church  to 
plan  and  erect  its  parish  house  so  as  to  serve  all  the 
purposes  of  the  community  hall.  The  architecture  of 
the  village  church  is  an  important  field  for  improvement. 
Or  perhaps  the  additional  cost  of  a  community  house  had 
better  go  into  the  district  school  building,  which  by 
careful  design  and  moveable  partitions  between  rooms 
can  be  made  available  for  both  uses,  rendering  a  sec- 

12  See  Rural  Social  Centers,  Bulletin  University  of  ^Yis;con9in, 
p  234 ;  Perry,  How  to  Start  Social  Centers,  Russell  Sage  Founda- 
tion Bulletin. 


210  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ond  building  unnecessary.  That  which  under  the  cir- 
cumstances secures  the  best  result  is  the  best  arrange- 
ment. Nothing  more  can  be  said  except  in  terms  of  the 
particular  community. 


IX 
THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM 

PROGRESS  WITHOUT  A   PROGRAM 

Piece-meal  Procedure.  The  things  which  it  were 
well  for  the  little  town  to  do,  as  discussed  comprehen- 
sively iu  former  chapters,  easily  catalogue  as  fifty  or  so 
major  civic  tasks,  the  accomplishment  of  any  one  of 
which  would  mark  an  epoch  in  town  progress.  To  initi- 
ate one  of  them  would  make  a  mayor's  administration 
notable  or  a  club  president's  term  famous.  To  com- 
plete one  of  them  might  take  years.  As  American  towns 
are  accustomed  to  handling  civic  problems  it  is  pretty 
sure  that  these  tasks  would  likely  be  undertaken  as  so 
many  separate  ones  which  would  compete  with  one  an- 
other for  public  interest  and  wreck  one  another  if  two 
or  three  were  under  consideration  at  the  same  time. 

Furthermore  it  is  probable  that  these  fifty  or  more 
tasks  would  be  broken  up  into  two  or  three  hundred 
separate  projects,  each  the  subject  of  ordinances  or 
the  occasion  of  circulating  a  subscription  paper  on  Main 
Street. 

Civic  Energy  Inefficiency  Used.  Recalling  now  that 
the  typical  little  town  has  from  twenty  to  forty  organ- 
izations of  different  sorts  available  for  its  civic  service 
it  is  clear  that  not  only  do  interests  compete,  but  that 
organizations  must  compete  for  people.     Disregarding 

211 


212  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  two-fifths  of  the  population  consisting  of  children 
or  aged  or  incompetent  folks  and  remembering  how  rela- 
tively few  of  even  average  human  beings  are  actually 
efficient  in  organized  effort,  how  many  available  workers 
will  there  be  for  each  organization  and  each  task? 
Manifestly  the  little  town  is  going  to  be  split  up  into 
organized  groups  too  small  for  the  performance  of  the 
larger  common  tasks.  The  faithful  few  are  always  over- 
worked in  lodge  or  board  of  trade  as  much  as  in  church 
or  women's  club.  Such  division  and  waste  of  the  town's 
human  resources  is  fatal. 

Imitation  Without  Adaptation.  Furthermore  most 
of  the  town's  civic  progress  is  due  to  the  instinct  of 
imitation.  Some  other  place  has  made  this  or  that  im- 
provement and  the  little  town  hears  about  it.  It  can- 
not distinguish  between  the  concrete  form  and  the  typi- 
cal significance.  It,  therefore,  tends  to  follow  a  mode 
formed  on  another  situation.  Particularly  is  this  true 
of  civic  progress  as  inspired  by  achievements  exploited 
in  books  and  magazines.  In  most  cases  it  is  the  city 
whose  civic  progress  is  set  before  the  little  town  to  be 
emulated  and  the  town  is  unable  to  reduce  the  problem 
to  its  own  scale.  Then  there  come  the  national  organ- 
izers of  movements  and  exponents  of  causes  who  fire  the 
conscience  but  fail  to  apply  their  message  to  the  town's 
particular  circumstances. 

"As  Usual  in  America."  Under  such  conditions 
fragmentary  and  detached  civic  victories  are  the  rule. 
One  can  find  a  town,  and  probably  more  than  one,  where 
the  women's  club  has  erected  a  fountain  in  the  public 
square  through  which  stock  ranges  at  large.  The  drip- 
pings of  the  fountain  have  become  a  hogwallow.     The 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  213 

most  exploited  cases  frequently  reveal  how  little  the 
particular  improvement  just  now  on  exhibition,  has  to 
do  with  the  general  life  of  the  community.  Their  very 
photographs  betray  them.  The  public  librarj-  or  play- 
ground occupies  the  centre  of  the  picture  while  all 
around  the  edges  are  the  evidences  of  civic  barbarism. 

Begin  with  Something.  On  tlie  one  hand,  fragmen- 
tary and  detached  progress  is  real  progress.  One  must 
begin  somewhere  and  unexpected  consequences  flow  from 
it  almost  in  the  beginning.  This  is  the  lesson  of  the 
village  improvement  organizations  of  New  England. 
Starting  with  a  comparatively  narrow  intere.st  in  the 
incidental  beautification  of  the  communities  they  were 
driven  back  to  the  fundamental  physical,  sanitary  and 
moral  considerations,  and  thus  out  into  a  fairly  com- 
prehensive program  of  civic  advance.  All  social  prob- 
lems are  interrelated  and  to  erect  a  fountain  in  the 
public  square  is  to  discover  a  reason  for  restraining 
stock. 

Plan  for  Everything.  On  the  other  hand  detached 
victories  often  spoil  entire  campaigns.  The  chief  foe 
of  fundamental  civic  betterment  is  not  the  thickskinned 
Philistine,  but  rather  the  man  who  plunges  into  super- 
ficial and  unconsidered  schemes;  thus  confusing  the 
major  tasks  and  dividing  community  interests.  This 
point  was  never  dealt  with  more  fundamentally  than  by 
President  Butterfield  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College  in  the  conference  which  fixed  the  place  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  the  rural  bet- 
terment field.^  Contrasting  the  "Johnnie-on-the-spot" 
attitude  with  the  "long-look-ahead"  attitude,  President 

1  Israel   (ed.),  "Unifying  Rural  Community  Interests." 


214  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Butterfield  showed  how  easily  the  petty  leader,  who 
brings  the  battle  on  too  soon,  may  defeat  the  wisest  plans 
of  the  great  commander.  The  same  devotion  and  energy 
which  has  gone  into  the  service  of  the  little  town  would 
have  yielded  a  thousand  fold  more  results  had  it  been 
planned. 

PROGRESS  THROUGH   A   PROGRAM 

There  is  fundamental  need  then  of  a  program  for  little- 
town  progress  which  shall  be  comprehensive,  orderly 
and  elastic,  combining  all  the  fundamental  tasks  which 
have  emerged,  and  utilizing  all  the  agencies  under  a 
single  progressive,  practicable  scheme. 

Advantage  of  a  Manageable  Unit.  Such  a  program 
is  possible.  This  is  the  beauty  of  the  fact  that  the  little 
town  is  little.  The  social  betterment  program  of  the 
Nation  or  of  the  great  city  is  necessarily  fragmentary 
because  of  the  size  and  complexity  of  the  field.  None 
can  even  hope  to  comprehend  all  the  problems  and 
marshal  all  the  forces.  Profound  social  students  are 
therefore  crying  out  for  some  unit  of  endeavour  in  which 
the  total  social  program  may  be  worked  out  in  complete- 
ness and  proportion.  "Let  us  really  do  the  business," 
they  say,  ''in  some  smaller  area,  thus  proving  that  it 
can  be  done;  then  we  shall  return  with  more  courage 
to  our  larger  and  more  baffling  tasks."  Expressive  of 
this  tendency,  the  National  Social  Unit  Organization 
has  recently  been  formed.  It  attempts  first  to  focus 
the  collective  wisdom  of  national  experts  on  all  social 
questions  upon  a  single  city  of  three  hundred  thousand 
population,-  and  to  spend  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars  simply  as  an  example,  in  the  attempt 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  215 

to  brinj^  together  existing  agencies  into  a  model  pro- 
gram of  community  organization.  Now  the  little  town 
is  exactly  such  a  manageable  unit  as  is  being  sought, 
within  which  it  is  possible  for  average  peoj)le  to  plan 
and  cany  out  a  comprehensive  community  program  in- 
clusive of  all  the  forces  and  tasks  of  social  betterment. 

Basic  Principles:  (1)  Time.  Tlip  principles  upon 
which  the  community  program  in  the  little  town  must 
organize  itself  are  those  of  time,  scope,  scale  and  rela- 
tion. There  is  no  better  place  to  begin  town  improve- 
ment than  in  the  planting  of  trees.  First,  because  no 
single  aspect  of  the  community  makes  so  great  difference 
at  so  little  cost  or  affects  more  people;  and  second,  be- 
cause good  trees  grow  slowly  and  teach  the  funda- 
mental lesson  that  time  is  a  factor  in  any  fundamental 
program  of  betterment  and  compels  the  long-look-ahead. 
Professor  Waugh  sets  forth  excellent  typical  programs 
for  village  improvement  societies  looking  ahead  one, 
two,  three,  five  and  ten  years.  Naturall}^  any  such  pro- 
jection of  programs  into  the  future  must  be  very  elastic. 
Nevertheless  the  effort  to  put  the  civic  tasks  of  the  com- 
munity onto  a  large  background  and  to  see,  theoretically 
at  least,  how  they  might  well  be  worked  out  in  an  orderly 
manner  through  a  series  of  years,  is  a  most  helpful  dis- 
cipline as  well  as  a  general  guide  to  practice. 

(2)  Scope.  It  is  a  repetition  to  say  that  the  compre- 
hensive program  for  community  betterment  must  take 
in  the  entire  natural  community  including  the  town  and 
its  dependent  rural  area,  and  that  it  must  include  all 
classes  of  the  community,  reaching  not  only  their  prob- 
lems but  enlisting  them  in  active  efforts  for  a  common 
solution.     Many  technically  accurate  surveys,  however, 


216  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

have  largely  missed  the  mark  by  being  based  on  an 
artificial  area  which  did  not  correspond  to  the  vital 
social  relations,  and  many  a  program  of  the  "best" 
people  has  failed  because  the  community  consists  of 
all  the  people,  and  in  the  most  fundamental  matters 
must  be  moved  in  its  entirety  or  not  at  all. 

(3)  Scale.  Perhaps  the  sharpest  test  of  a  compre- 
hensive program  is  that  of  working  it  out  and  keeping 
it  within  the  scale  of  little-town  possibilities  and  those 
of  the  particular  size  and  type  of  little  town  for  which 
the  program  is  made.  Even  the  effort  of  this  book  is 
to  state  modestly  what  the  little  town  may  aspire  to, 
will  stir  concrete  imaginings  far  beyond  the  actual 
powers  of  multitudes  of  the  smaller  places.  Yet  every 
one  of  the  fifty  major  tasks  has  its  version  affecting  the 
least  municipality.  No  one  of  them  may  be  omitted  ex- 
cept at  extreme  social  and  moral  peril.  The  four  or 
five  distinct  types  of  playground  and  amusement  cen- 
tres which  the  big  city  demands,  must  somehow  be  satis- 
fied by  the  picnic  ground  and  the  pasture  lot,  yet  every 
recreational  need  of  every  class  in  the  community  must 
be  sensed  and  met  as  faithfully  as  in  New  York  City. 
He  will  be  a  wise  and  courageous  man  who  knows  how 
to  express  the  fundamental  ideals  of  collective  life  in 
the  term  of  the  little  and  often  stagnant  community,  and 
to  stir  and  keep  enthusiasm  for  such  modest  improve- 
ments as  are  humanly  possible. 

(4)  Relation.  The  final  test  of  the  comprehensive 
program  is  its  ability  to  see  and  keep  things  in  relation. 
There  are  no  scales  in  which  to  weigh  absolutely  the 
relative  importance  of  the  major  social  tasks  of  the  com- 
munity.    All  are  essential  and  no  one  can  be  omitted. 


THE  TOWWS  PROGRAM  217 

Yet  from  day  to  day  and  from  year  to  year  a  choice 
must  be  made  between  what  is  more  or  less  important 
for  the  time  being.  The  fundamental  must  come  be- 
fore the  superficial,  althouf^^h  the  superficial  may  be 
used  to  sugar-coat  the  issue  on  the  platform,  or  at  the 
polls. 

COMMUNITY   ORGANIZATION 

Simplification  by  Co-ordination.  There  is  no  way  of 
realizing  such  a  comprehensive  program  except  by  having 
an  organization  to  put  it  into  etTeet.  That  this  means 
an  additional  organization  in  a  community  already  over- 
supplied  makes  no  difference.  This  organization  is  in 
the  interests  of  simplicity.  It  is  essentially  an  agency 
of  co-ordination  which  makes  the  many  existing  agencies 
act  together  as  though  they  were  once.  Counting  the 
names  and  enumerating  the  ofificers  of  organizations 
never  signifies.  The  whole  question  is,  Do  they  act 
separately  or  do  they  act  together?  In  the  latter  case, 
the  agency  which  unifies  them  reduces  rather  than  adds 
to  their  number.  Because  it  does  unite  existing  organ- 
izations it  is  natural  to  name  the  new  community-wide 
organization  a  "league."  Thus  Hartman  ^  cites  a  case 
of  a  league  for  social  service  in  New  England  which 
federates  twenty-eight  existing  community  organiza- 
tions. Each  of  them  is  a  member  of  the  comprehensive 
league,  paying  annual  organization  dues  into  its  treas- 
ury and  continuing  its  peculiar  work  within  the  inclusive 
organization. 

Direct  and  Indirect  Functions.     The  inclusive  organ- 

2  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Sci- 
ewe,  XV,  p.  234. 


218  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

ization  may  possibly  need  to  undertake  and  direct  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  comprehensive  program  not  already 
expressed  by  existing  organizations.  It  will  be  whole- 
some to  have  some  direct  responsibilities  and  to  fill  in 
the  gaps  which  are  likely  to  be  found  in  a  community 
which  has  grown  up  haphazard  and  which  is  divided  be- 
tween agencies  which  have  never  tried  to  work  together 
and  to  cover  the  whole  ground.  It  will  want  to  keep  the 
functions  of  investigation  and  survey,  and  of  the  an- 
nual summary,  exhibit  and  measuring  of  civic  progress 
in  its  own  hands.  In  the  main,  however,  the  chief  vir- 
tue of  the  new  organization  is  that  it  does  co-ordinate 
existing  agencies,  pointing  out  where  the  gaps  are  and 
suggesting  to  this  one  or  that  that  it  expand  its  fields 
so  that  they  will  cover  every  task.  Equally  where  the 
present  organizations  are  competing  with  one  another 
within  the  same  field  it  will  use  its  good  offices  to  see  that, 
so  far  as  possible,  duplication  of  effort  ceases.  The 
little  towns  are  already  richly  supplied  with  organiza- 
tions which  want  to  help.  The  new  organization  simply 
interprets  to  them  the  comprehensive  community  pro- 
gram and  shows  each  how  it  may  best  take  its  place  in 
carrying  out  the  same. 

Variables  and  Constants.  In  its  details  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  community  league  may  well  differ  from  town 
to  town.  When  a  few  fundamentals  are  secured  there  is 
no  reason  for  uniformity.  It  is  important,  however,  that 
individual  membership  should  be  representative  of  all 
classes  in  all  parts  of  the  community  and  that  it  should 
be  based  on  some  particular  participation  in  community 
betterment.  Let  the  league  be  easy  to  get  into,  but 
hard  to  stay  in,  except  for  those  who  are  actually  doing 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  219 

something  for  their  own  town  year  by  year.  The  de- 
grees and  honours  long  used  by  secret  orders  and  which 
are  now  popularized  in  the  Boy  Scouts'  and  Camp  Fire 
Girls'  organizations  may  well  be  adapted  to  civic  im- 
provement organizations.  In  a  farmers'  organization 
for  the  improvement  of  home  surroundings  fostered  by 
the  horticultural  department  of  the  University  of  Il- 
linois an  Australian  ballot  is  used,  on  which  farmers 
pledge  to  undertake  a  particular  project  within  a  given 
time  with  the  help  of  the  department.  Similarly  in  the 
little  town,  membership  in  the  community  league  might 
continue  so  long  as  a  member  would  undertake  one  or 
more  of  a  specified  number  of  betterment  projects  which 
could  be  carried  out  individually  or  by  families.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  his  success  should  be  judged  and 
he  should  receive  corresponding  honour  or  recognition. 
Should  he  cease  to  do  some  practical  work  in  community 
betterment  no  amount  of  money  should  be  able  to  buy 
him  membership  in  the  league. 

Working  the  Plan.  Similarly,  organizations  having 
membership  in  the  league  should  be  allowed  to  hold  it 
so  long  as  they  should  actually  accept  responsibility  for 
some  particular  form  of  community  service  adapted  to 
them.  At  the  end  of  the  year  their  results  should  be 
judged  and  a  suitable  honour  conferred  upon  them. 
The  rating  and  recognition  of  the  work  of  a  church,  a 
women's  club  or  of  even  a  commercial  organization 
should  be  decided  by  a  competent  jury  of  the  most  in- 
fluential citizens  of  the  little  town,  who.se  verdict  would 
be  a  tremendous  tonic  and  challenge  to  faithfulness  and 
eflficiency. 

The  Crucial  Point.     The  leadership  of  the  community 


220  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

league  is  of  extreme  importance.  Formally  it  must 
doubtless  include  the  executives  of  all  the  participat- 
ing organizations,  organized  as  a  sort  of  executive  coun- 
cil for  community  enterprise.  "With  these  various  presi- 
dents and  other  officials  must  be  included  certain  official 
representatives,  say  of  the  town  government  and  of  the 
school  board,  together  with  the  local  magistrate  and  a 
county  administrator.  Simply  getting  together  the  vari- 
ous people  who  are  responsible  for  the  different  lines  of 
community  work,  will  lead  to  better  mutual  understand- 
ings, the  quickening  of  interest  and  something  of  a  com- 
mon program. 

Natural  Leadership.  Nothing  of  this  sort,  however, 
can  succeed  merely  as  a  combination  of  officials  and 
functionaries.  There  must  be  a  dominant  personal 
leadership  for  which  there  can  be  no  direction  or  formula. 
In  every  community,  however,  there  are  natural  leaders, 
some  of  whom  will  be  community-minded  and  will  have 
cast  in  their  lots  permanently  with  the  town.  At  best, 
unless  organization  enlists  natural  leaders  of  the  perma- 
nent sort  it  will  be  futile  and  short-lived.  For  this  rea- 
son the  preacher  and  school  superintendent  who  are 
merely  using  the  little  town  as  a  stepping  stone  to  pro- 
fessional advancement,  for  all  their  fine  notions  of  com- 
munity betterment,  hinder  as  often  as  they  help.  They 
are  necessarily  in  a  hurry, — they  haven't  time  to  work 
out  a  fundamental  program.  The  rewards  of  medicine 
and  law  on  the  contrary  are  usually  cumulative  just  in 
proportion  to  the  time  they  have  been  practised  in  a 
given  community.  The  doctor  and  the  lawyer  then  are 
natural  community  leaders. 

The  Salt  of  the  Earth.     It  is  to  them,  therefore,  with 


THK  TOWN'S  PROGKAM  221 

the  community-minded  business  man,  wIkj  has  invested 
his  all  in  the  town  and  eouldn't  get  his  money  out  if  he 
wanted  to;  to  the  old  "first"  families  who  are  really 
first  in  sense  of  civic  responsibility  and  Who  know  their 
place  or  can  be  taught  it  in  the  democratic  scheme;  oc- 
casionally to  the  editor;  and  especially  to  the  fine  type 
of  competent  women  who  regard  the  town  as  a  whole 
maternally, — that  the  town  must  look  for  the  continuous 
initiative,  patience  and  intelligence  necessary  to  work 
out  its  program.  Happily  or  unhappily  the  available 
number  of  natural  leaders  is  sure  to  be  reduced  because 
temperamentally  they  cannot  all  work  together.  Finally 
the  number  will  be  small.  Indeed  it  need  not  be  large. 
If  Sodom  had  been  a  little  town  its  righteous  would  have 
been  enough.  Just  because  the  little  town  is  little,  it 
only  takes  a  handful  of  moderately  able,  teachable,  co- 
operative and  eternally  persistent  folks  to  realize  almost 
any  program.  One  average  man  with  the  right  clue, 
reasonable  tact  and  forty  years  of  time  can  make  over 
his  community.  And  there  are  oidy  twelve  thousand 
little  towns  in  the  United  States! 

COOPERSBURG  :      AN  EXAMPLE 

A  modest  but  capital  illustration  of  a  little  town  dis- 
covering and  working  to  a  program  through  a  compre- 
hensive organization,  and  with  instinctive  recognition 
of  the  foregoing  principles  is  that  of  Coopersburg,  a 
conservative  old  Pennsylvania  "Dutch"  town  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  state.  Ninety-ei>rht  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  population  is  of  German  descent  with  a  tradition 
of  individual  rather  than  of  social  virtues.  The  recent 
story  of  this  community  has  been  summarized  by  the 


222  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Secretary  of  the  Moravian  Country  Church   Commis- 
sion. 

Co-operating  for  Coopersburg.  In  January,  1914, 
a  group  of  citizens,  originally  brought  together  by  one 
of  the  churches,  issued  a  call  for  a  community  meeting 
to  discuss  plans  for  solving  the  problems  presented  by 
a  little  town  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  souls.  The 
meeting  was  unexpectedly  enthusiastic;  and  in  conse- 
quence a  Neighbourhood  Association  was  formed  with 
the  following  committees :  Industrial,  Recreation,  Civic 
Improvement,  Health  and  Hygiene,  Home  and  School, 
and  Publicity.  It  was  designed  to  have  a  central  or- 
ganization working  through  committees,  and  flexible 
enough  to  meet  any  community  need  as  it  arose.  Every- 
thing was  to  be  co-ordinated  in  a  strong  community  asso- 
ciation issuing  only  one  financial  appeal  for  all  needs, 
on  the  basis  of  committee  budgets.  Churches,  lodges, 
business  men  and  school  interests  were  represented  on 
the  various  committees  and  thus  all  are  bound  together 
with  a  common  purpose.  The  community  had  been  strik- 
ingly narrow  and  sectarian  and  the  formation  of  the 
Association  was  the  first  general  socializing  experience 
that  it  had  ever  had. 

The  plain,  unvarnished  tale  of  the  transformation  of 
Coopersburg  within  about  two  years  and  of  the  meth- 
ods and  fortunes  of  the  sub-agencies  which  wrought  it 
out,  shows  nothing  which  might  not  be  duplicated  in  any 
town— except  probably,  unusual  quality  of  leadership. 
The  wealth  of  unused  resources  awaiting  mobilization  by 
the  community  is  typical  rather  than  exceptional. 

Conservative  Economic  Plans.  ' '  The  Industrial  Com- 
mittee avoided  the  temptation  to  bring  in  new  and  not 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  223 

too  substantial  manufactiirinf?  concerns,  knowing  that 
the  town  liad  an  insunic-ient  number  of  houses  for  its 
present  needs.  Efforts  were  put  forward  to  secure  more 
dwellings  and  these  met  with  some  success  and  still  more 
houses  are  going  up  in  the  coming  months.  The  com- 
mittee also  organized  a  Building  &  Loan  Association  with 
a  capital  of  half  a  million  dollars.  This  is  now  success- 
fully at  work.  A  special  effort  was  made  to  enlist  young 
men  in  the  ranks  of  the  stock-holders  and  in  this  way 
many  have  become  regular  savers."  The  committee  has 
also  "performed  the  usual  functions  of  a  Board  of 
Trade,  advertising  the  community,  seeking  to  bring  the 
farmers  to  it,  making  it  more  of  a  centre  for  the  ship- 
ping of  produce,  and  similar  things.  A  public  spirited 
citizen  placed  at  its  disposal  a  large  tract  of  land  that 
is  being  offered  for  free  factory  sites.  In  this  way  the 
Association  can  largely  control  the  type  of  industries 
hereafter  to  be  admitted  to  the  community.  It  is  also 
wisely  aiding  present  industries  to  expand  instead  of 
bringing  in  new  concerns  too  quickly."^ 

Finding  a  Basis  in  Facts.  The  Civic  Improvement 
Committee's  tirst  and  comprehensive  work  was  to  take 
the  social  census  of  the  community.  This  task  was  car- 
ried out  by  an  expert  of  the  Presbyterian  Department 
of  the  Church  and  Country  Life  in  close  co-operation 
with  the  Moravian  Country  Church  Commission.  The 
facts  discovered  were  such  as  any  divided  and  socially 
neglectful  little  town  might  have  expected.  They  made 
Coopersburg  cringe.  The  Association  leaders,  however, 
felt  new  strength  through  precise  knowledge  of  condi- 
tions.    "A  village  surveyed."  they  declared,  "is  a  vil- 

3  Brunner,  'To-operation  in  Coopersburg." 


224  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

lage  unafraid."  The  Civic  Improvement  Committee 
turned  especially  to  the  erection  of  a  hopeful  communal 
spirit.  The  very  formation  of  the  Association  had 
helped  this  greatly.  In  addition,  the  committee  car- 
ried on  contests  for  a  Coopersburg  slogan,  a  community 
motto,  a  hymn,  and  town  colours.  Coopersburg  has  now 
the  symbols  to  express  the  faith  that  is  in  her.  When 
the  railroad  station  was  slightly  damaged  by  fire  the 
committee,  co-operating  with  the  station  agent,  was  en- 
abled to  secure  additional  conveniences  in  the  repaired 
depot  as  well  as  the  promise  of  a  new  station  in  the  near 
future. 

Obvious  Relations  Rediscovered.  The  Home  and 
School  Committee  soon  came  to  perform  all  the  func- 
tions of  a  Parent-Teachers'  association.  Its  meetings 
have  been  most  helpful  in  the  creating  of  co-operative 
feeling  between  the  school  and  the  town.  Electric  lights 
were  installed  in  the  schoolhouse  by  community  gifts. 
A  May  Day  celebration  arranged  by  this  committee  in 
connection  with  the  Recreation  Committee,  marked  an 
epoch  in  the  town's  social  history,  and  will  be  an  an- 
nual affair. 

Difficulties  from  Traditionalism.  The  Recreation 
Committee  soon  found  that  a  revolution  would  be  neces- 
sary in  the  established  views  of  the  community  before 
the  profounder  phases  of  its  program  were  possible. 
"If  it's  exercise  you  want,  why  don't  you  go  and  chop 
wood?  That's  all  I  used  to  play  when  I  was  a  boy," 
was  reported  as  expressing  the  typical  attitude.  The 
committee  has  not  been  idle,  however,  in  following  some 
of  the  immediate  suggestions  in  the  survey.  It  has  co- 
operated closely  with  the  orchestra,  band.  Boy  Scouts, 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  225 

and  glee  club.  A  number  of  home  talent  minstrel  shows 
and  plays  were  held  and  a  few  star  outside  attractions 
brought  into  the  town.  The  baseball  team  was  assisted 
and  a  large  tract  of  land  adjoining  the  High  School 
leased,  with  privilege  to  buy,  as  a  baseball  field.  A 
community  picnic  ground  of  several  acres  donated  by 
a  public-spirited  citizen,  has  also  been  developed  through 
this  committee. 

Opposition  of  Individualism.  The  Health  and  Hy- 
giene Committee  also  found  a  large  task  of  education 
ahead  of  it  before  much  of  its  program,  in  its  larger 
features,  could  be  accomplished.  This  educational  work, 
however,  has  been  carried  on  consistently.  Clean  up 
days  have  been  held  each  spring,  wuth  the  enthusiastic 
co-operation  of  the  Boy  Scouts.  Health  items  are 
printed  weekly  in  the  town's  newspaper  and  health  litera- 
ture is  distributed  free,  especially  that  dealing  with  rural 
sanitation  and  starving  the  fly.  There  have  also  been 
lectures  on  health  topics  by  members  of  the  State  Health 
Board. 

The  Springs  of  Motive.  The  functions  of  the  Relig- 
ious and  ilorals  Committee  have  been  performed  thus 
far  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Association.  Its 
work  has  been  one  of  the  most  worth-while  features  of 
the  Association's  activity.  Noted  rural  workers  have 
spoken  at  community  mass  meetings.  Life  decisions 
have  been  made  as  a  result  of  some  of  the  addresses 
made.  The  constant  effort  is  to  keep  strong  and  clear 
the  religious  impulse  and  motive  that  is  back  of  the 
whole  work.  It  is  held  that  there  can  be  no  completely 
saved  community  life  that  does  not  include  every  fea- 
ture of  the  community's  work  and  play;  that  it  is  as 


226  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

important  to  Coopersburg  that  it  has  the  right  sort  of 
industries,  houses,  health,  recreation  and  schools,  as  that 
it  has  the  right  sort  of  churches.  The  committee  does 
not  believe  it  can  have  any  one  v^ithout  having  all  the 
others. 

The  New  Spirit.  The  chief  result  of  this  experiment 
in  neighbourhood  work,  as  judged  by  one  of  its  leaders, 
has  been  "the  welding  together  of  the  community. 
Coopersburg  was  once  branded  even  by  its  own  citizens 
as  'slow,'  'conservative,'  'hopeless,'  'pessimistic'  To- 
day the  spirit  is  decidedly  optimistic.  The  citizens  are 
really  true  to  their  motto,  'Co-operate  for  Coopersburg.' 
They  have  small  patience  for  criticism  that  is  not  con- 
structive. They  believe  in  the  slogan  that  character- 
izes the  community  as  'The  Town  of  Possibilities.' 
This  message  to  similar  communities  that  may  chance 
through  these  pages  to  learn  of  this  work  is,  'Go,  and 
do  likewise.'  'All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  be- 
lieveth.'  'This  is  the  victory  even  our  faith.'  "^  In- 
terpreting the  deeper  realms  of  motive,  the  writer  of 
the  above  account  adds  that,  while  a  church  initiated 
the  community  movement,  co-operation  between  the 
churches  as  such  had  been  and  was  impossible.  It  be- 
came possible  only  in  terms  of  community  service.  Re- 
ligion indeed  was  the  inspiration,  but  it  had  to  enter 
a  new  sphere  before  it  could  reach  and  convert  the 
churches  as  distributors.  If  not  more  religious  than 
the  churches,  the  community  was  at  least  more  religious 
in  certain  important  ways  which  the  churches  could 
not  realize  for  themselves  nor  command  for  others,  ex- 
cept through  the  medium  of  a  community  program.     The 

4  Brunner,  "Co-operation  in  Coopersburg,"  p.  94. 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  227 

right  program  released  the  new  spirit,  combining  com- 
munity loyalty,  relif^'ion  and  service. 

Civic  Monuments  to  the  New  Spirit.  The  experience 
of  Coopersburg  shows  finally  how  inevitably  quickened 
community  life  demands  external  expression  in  some  cen- 
tral place  of  beauty  and  of  common  ideals, — a  civic  cen- 
tre with  its  buildings  and  facilities,  a  temple  of  religion 
in  its  community  aspects.  Thus  Mr.  Brunner  con- 
tinues,— 

"The  Association  as  such  is  looking  forward  to  two 
steps  as  the  crown  of  the  program — steps  by  means  of 
which  much  of  what  is  now  planned  for  may  be  easily 
accomplished." 

Park  and  Playground.  ''The  possibilities  for  a  com- 
munity park  of  rare  beauty  and  usefulness  can  be  read- 
ily seen  by  even  the  casual  observer  of  the  High  School 
grounds.  To  the  left  of  the  school  is  the  baseball  field 
already  leased  by  the  Association.  From  it,  on  the 
left,  is  a  view  of  beautiful  farm  lands  bounded  by  a  low 
range  of  mountains  which  receives  a  nightly  kiss  from 
the  westering  sun.  Back  of  the  school  is  a  meadow 
with  its  large  pond  on  one  shore  of  which  is  a  cluster  of 
trees.  Here  the  boys  and  girls  could  swim  and  skate 
under  proper  supervision.  On  the  right  side  of  the 
school  are  the  tennis  courts,  volley  ball  and  croquet 
fields,  as  well  as  space  for  a  Neighbourhood  House. 
Someday  soon  the  Association  hopes  to  own  this  land  or 
to  secure  it  for  the  school  and  have  its  possibilities  for 
recreation  and  study  used  to  the  full  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Board  of  Education  practically  all  of  whom  are 
members  of  the  Association." 

The  Neighbourhood  House.     ' '  This  will  stand  near  to 


228  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

the  school — its  constant  assistant  and  complement. 
The  sketches  for  this  building  have  already  been  pre- 
pared. It  will  be  a  simple  but  spacious  and  substantial 
building  containing  place  for  basket  ball  and  other  win- 
ter recreations,  the  floor  space  for  these  to  be  convertible 
into  the  floor  of  an  auditorium  for  lectures,  plays,  etc. 
There  will  be  a  small  but  complete  stage  at  one  end. 
Committee  rooms,  dressing  rooms,  reading  rooms,  and 
a  rest  room  for  farmers'  wives  will  be  provided.  In  the 
basement  there  will  be  a  place  for  Domestic  Science  and 
Manual  Training.  The  building  will  also  furnish  a 
place  for  band  and  orchestra  practice  and  a  wing  can 
be  built  for  the  fire  company.  To  the  rear  will  be  free 
horse  sheds  for  the  farmers.  The  location  near  the 
school,  the  baseball  field,  playground  and  pond  is  well 
nigh  ideal."  ^ 

Coopersburg's  Five  Year  Program.  It  is  the  privi- 
lege of  every  little  town  to  receive  its  own  kiss  from  the 
westering  sun.  The  foregoing  story  has  been  told 
largely  in  quotation  in  order  to  preserve  its  human 
qualities,  its  fine  flavour  of  devotion  and  enthusiasm 
without  which  no  program  can  avail.  At  the  same  time 
Coopersburg  would  be  first  to  confess  that  much  of  its 
success,  and  much  indeed  of  the  permanence  of  the  new 
and  fine  community  spirit,  is  directly  due  to  a  defi- 
nite program  based  upon  the  survey  of  1914,  which  is 
expected  to  be  accomplished  within  five  years;  as  fol- 
lows,— 

Industrial  Committee.  (1)  Secure  more  houses. 
(2)  Secure  more  industries  of  the  right  sort.  (3)  En- 
courage and  advertise  present  industries.     (4)  Provide 

5  Brunner,  "Co-operation  in  Coopersburg,"  p.  80. 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  229 

an  attractive  label  to  be  placed  on  all  goods  that  are 
shipped.  (5)  Organize  a  local  industrial  fair.  (6) 
Open  a  market  for  farmers  and  try  to  make  Coopers- 
burg  a  city  source  of  supply  for  products.  (7)  Provide 
horse  sheds  for  farmers.  (8)  Provide  rest  rooms  for 
farmers'  wives.  (9)  Call  public  attention  to  industrial 
anniversaries.  (10)  Push  Building  &  Loan.  (11)  Es- 
tablish school  bank  to  cater  to  children's  accounts. 
(12)  Interest  trolley  and  railroad  companies  in  Coopers- 
burg. 

Recreation  Committee.  (1)  Plan  for  the  supervision 
of  play  to  a  certain  extent.  The  object  of  this  is  to  ob- 
tain recreation  together  with  physical  development  and 
to  teach  co-operation  and  morals.  (2)  Fit  up  a  small 
playground  with  swings,  tennis  courts,  quoits,  etc.,  and 
make  provision  for  swimming  and  skating.  (3)  Make  a 
program  for  the  year.  Divide  the  year  into  months, 
have  all  the  organizations  work  together  and  distribute 
their  social  efforts  through  the  year,  not  neglecting  sport 
days,  picnics,  suppers,  patriotic  days,  church  socials, 
and  the  like. 

Home  and  School  Committee.  (1)  Co-operating  with 
school  board  tiuish  and  enlarge  both  school  and  grounds. 
(2)  Introduce  night  school  courses.  (3)  Push  plans  to 
have  a  Public  School  library.  (4)  Plan  a  community 
reading  course.  (5)  Make  school  worth  while  for  farm 
children.  (6)  Suggest  and  provide  mottoes  for  homes 
and  school.     (7)   Emphasize  higher  education. 

Civic  Improvement  Committee.  (1)  Develop  a  loyal 
borough  spirit,  getting  a  Coopersburg  yell,  song  and 
pennant.  (2)  Write  up  history  of  town.  (3)  Get  to- 
gether a  good  collection  of  views.     (4)   Beautify  homes 


230  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

and  streets.  (5)  Plan  for  Farmers'  Institute.  (6) 
Have  an  Old  Home  Week.  (7)  Celebrate  borough  an- 
niversaries, as  coming  of  railroad  or  trolley,  founding 
of  Neighbourhood  Association,  etc. 

Health  Committee.  (1)  Continue  to  print  health 
articles  in  paper.  (2)  Continue  clean-up  days.  (3) 
Guard  water  supply  and  wells.  (4)  Plan  for  sewage 
disposal.  (5)  Introduce  physical  culture  into  school. 
(6)  Enforce  quarantine  regulations.  (7)  Guard  food 
supplies,  sources  of  meat  and  vegetables,  condition  of 
shops,  etc.  (8)  Secure  health  displays.  (9)  Have  pub- 
lic health  talks.  (10)  Get  literature  from  state  and 
national  governments  for  distribution. 

Religious  and  Morals  Committee.  (1)  Seek  to  unify 
church  efforts.  (2)  Cultivate  church  attendance.  (3) 
Enlarge  religious  investment.  (4)  Celebrate  religious 
anniversaries,  sometimes  with  Union  services,  getting  out 
attractive  programs.  (5)  Hold  country  church  confer- 
ence for  the  many  churches  near  here.  (6)  Publish 
religious  monthly,  possibly  taking  over  Moravian  News 
and  printing  news  from  churches.  Neighbourhood  Asso- 
ciation, etc.  (7)  Organize  ministers'  association.  (8) 
Organize  laymen's  organization  of  the  boards  of  the 
local  churches.  Perhaps  this  committee  should  be  the 
men  on  these  boards. 

ORGANIZING  A   COMMUNITY   PROGRAM 

How  to  Go  at  It.  When  the  men  of  Coopersburg  sat 
down  to  organize  their  list  of  nearly  fifty  common  tasks 
into  a  comprehensive  program,  how  did  they  proceed? 
Naturally  in  the  habitual  American  fashion,  by  appoint- 
ing committees  for  each  of  the  outstanding  departments 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  231 

of  civic  endeavour,  each  corresponding  to  a  dominant 
social  aim.  But  how  did  they  know  that  they  were 
right?  How  did  they  answer  the  questions:  What 
sub-committees  shall  there  be?  What  shall  each  be 
called?  What  shall  their  duties  be?  Where  will  one 
assign  this  or  that  task  which  does  not  obviously  belong 
to  any  of  them?  Of  course  Coopersburg  did  not  work 
in  vacuum.  Civic  betterment  never  does.  Its  tools  are 
largely  already  forged  for  its  hand.  It  deals  with  de- 
partments and  agencies  of  already  existent  government 
and  largely  with  long-established  institutions,  which  it 
attempts  to  work  with  in  practical  ways.  There  are 
established  habits  in  civic  processes.  In  practice,  their 
departments  of  endeavour  will  indirectly  reflect  these 
facts.  On  the  other  hand,  logic  is  power  in  the  long 
run.  The  unequal  yoking  of  incongruous  lines  of  activ- 
ity means  permanent  friction  and  strain.  Any  program 
maker  will  at  least  try  instinctively  to  keep  like  things 
together. 

Criticizing  Coopersburg.  In  view  of  these  considera- 
tions it  is  possible  to  ask  whether  the  Coopersburg 
method  of  organizing  its  community  program  was  best 
even  for  Coopersburg.  Including  the  total  program 
within  six  or  seven  comprehensive  departments  was 
clearly  right,  and  the  choice  of  and  division  of  work  be- 
tween departments  is  immensely  suggestive.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  not  quite  an  ideal  program.  Many  current 
community  betterment  interests  have  not  yet  emerged  in 
Coopersburg.  Does  not  the  work  of  the  Civic  Improve- 
ment Committee  seem  a  sort  of  catch-all  for  miscel- 
laneous interests?  What  obvious  affinity  is  there  be- 
tween the  mood  which  makes  a  scientific  survey  and  that 


232  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

which  invents  a  Coopersburg  yell?  The  Farmers'  In- 
stitute project,  which  this  committee  assumed,  had  to  do 
with  economic  development  and  more  naturally  belonged 
in  a  common  department  with  the  work  of  the  Industrial 
Committee.  In  brief,  there  is  a  real  problem  of  classifi- 
cation which  has  more  than  theoretical  importance. 

A  Model  Program.  The  following  suggestion  is  of- 
fered as  a  fair  compromise  between  logical  division  and 
experience  based  upon  habit  and  convenience.  Anything 
the  little-town  civic  program  should  include  may  be  made 
at  least  to  come  within  seven  departments: 

(1)  Community  plan  and  public  improvements. 

(2)  Economic  welfare;  agricultural,  commercial,  in- 
dustrial. 

(3)  Health,  sanitation  and  housing. 

(4)  Public  morals,  law  enforcement;  charity  and  cor- 
rection. 

(5)  Education. 

(6)  Recreation. 

(7)  Religious  co-operation  and  civic  worship. 
These  departments  are  intended  to  cover  the  entire 

range  of  little-town  possibilities  set  forth  in  chapters 
five,  six  and  seven.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  first 
four  correspond  to  the  four  "structural  fundamentals" 
of  chapter  five.  If  they  are  really  fundamentals,  this 
is  of  course  natural.  They  could  not  avoid  being  direct 
and  permanent  objects  of  endeavour.  They  use  all 
agencies,  touch  all  institutions,  involve  all  ideals.  Edu- 
cation, recreation  and  religion  are  groups  of  practical 
activities  and  institutions  which  gather  together  and  sum 
up  the  further  interests  which  men  ought  to  have  in 
common.     The  ideals  discussed  in  chapter  seven  concern 


THE  TOWN'S  I'K()(}KAM  233 

all  departments  of  endeavour  and  will  attach  themselves 
especially  to  one  or  another  by  natural  affinity  or  present 
convenience.  Tiiere  is  no  sanctity,  however,  about  the 
above  formulation.  All  that  is  urged  is  that,  as  a  prac- 
tical basis  for  org:anized  effort,  everythin}?  the  little  town 
wants  to  undertake  community-wise  must  be  systematic- 
ally comprehended  in  a  snuill  Tiinnbor  of  working  cate- 
gories. 

THE   STATE   AS   THE   TOWN'S   PROGRAM-MAKER 

A  Universal  Community  Program.  The  helpful  serv- 
ice of  the  town 's  world  to  local  development  has  already 
been  noted  in  two  phases.  In  the  first  place,  it  affords 
the  towns  a  varied,  though  often  indiscriminate,  array 
of  the  tools  of  community  progress.  Second,  it  offers 
and  necessitates  certain  established  modes  of  social  activ- 
ity making  in  the  same  direction.  But  the  world  has 
now  gone  beyond  these  phases.  It  has  now  reached  a 
comprehensive  social  purpose  which  makes  communities 
as  such  the  objects  of  its  constructive  politics  and  seeks 
to  realize  a  unified  and  complete  program  of  development 
in  each  one  of  them.  It  has  definitely  emerged  as  a 
function  of  the  modern  socialized  state  to  be  a  program- 
maker  for  its  towns.  It  is  the  state's  business  to  cover 
the  country  with  Coopersburgs. 

The  University.  The  natural  eye  of  the  state  for 
seeing  the  community  vision  steadily  and  seeing  it  whole, 
is  the  University.  Several  of  the  more  progressive  mid- 
dle and  western  states,  usually  through  various  bureaus 
of  the  extension  departments  of  their  universities,  have 
gone  far  toward  becoming  program-makers  for  their 
towns.     They  have  passed  over  from  the  teaching  of 


234  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

individuals  to  the  teaching  of  communities.  It  is  indeed 
a  far  cry  from  the  correspondence  studies  of  the  aspiring 
student  here  and  there,  which  was  the  first  service  of 
these  departments,  through  the  stage  of  sending  out  a 
miscellaneous  lot  of  informing  and  popular  lecturers, 
to  the  inspiring  and  ambitious  program  of  schooling  the 
towns  as  such  in  all  the  better  lessons  of  collective  life. 
What  Wisconsin  is  ready  to  undertake  by  way  of  their 
education  in  all  things  municipal  has  already  been  cata- 
logued.^ It  includes  charters,  ordinances,  finance  and 
accounting,  engineering,  and  sanitary  matters;  and 
equally  in  the  realm  of  community  betterment  through 
voluntary  organizations  of  citizens, — social  centres,  the 
wider  use  of  the  school  plant,  rural  life  organization,  and 
the  like.  This  state  has  begun,  through  a  series  of  local 
institutes,  to  offer  community  instruction  in  advertising 
and  the  display  of  goods  for  the  sake  of  the  thousands 
of  little-town  retail  merchants  and  aspires  to  play  the 
part  of  a  commercial  club  secretary  to  its  smaller  com- 
munities.'^ She  is  prepared  to  furnish  the  information 
necessary  both  by  specific  replies  and  advice  for  all  in- 
quirers, and  by  sending  out  package  libraries  on  public 
questions,  and  is  seeking  to  follow  up  information  by 
inspiration  through  the  promotion  of  community  music 
as  a  power  to  melt  and  fuse  the  hearts  of  men  into  one. 

Summary  of  Services.  In  1911-12,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  Wisconsin  cities  were  thus  supplied  with 
municipal  guidance  and  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  subjects,  and  two  thousand  four  hundred 

6  Chapter  VIII,  p.  189. 

7  Gillin,  "Community  Development  and  the  State  University," — 
Town  Development,  August,  1914,  p.  99. 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  235 

and  fifty  package  libraries  on  public  questions  were  sent 
out  to  three  hundred  and  thirteen  communities.  Two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  requests  for  information  and 
advice  concerning  social  centres  and  constructive  com- 
munity betterment  plans  were  answered,  fifty  Boards 
of  Education  and  like  administrative  bodies  conferred 
with,  and  hundreds  of  addresses  delivered  in  behalf  of 
community  progress.  In  1915,  the  ^Municipal  Research 
Bureau  of  the  University  of  Kansas  served  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  towns — one-half  of  the  number  having  less 
than  two  thousand  population  each — on  three  hundred 
and  thirty-three  matters.  Forty-four  ordinances  were 
drafted,  one  hundred  and  eight  legal  questions  answered, 
and  engineering  data  furnished  in  all  cases,  and  the 
campaign  for  larger  legal  powers  for  small  municipali- 
ties was  vigorously  backed.  Washington  and  Oregon 
have  less  developed  but  similar  agencies.  What  with 
these  and  the  frequent  e<.lucative  and  administrative 
pressure  of  state  boards  of  health  upon  the  little  towns, 
— what  with  increasing  control  and  definiteuess  of  pro- 
gram on  the  part  of  state  departments  of  education, 
the  growing  purpose  of  the  modern  state  is  manifest  to 
help,  supervise,  and  exact  standard  results  from  the 
communities  upon  which  it  confers  corporate  powers. 
To  all  of  them,  it  will  doubtless  grant  wider  and  wider 
privileges  of  self-government  and  new  spheres  of  action ; 
but  the  larger  cities  will  doubtless  seek  their  own  way, 
while  it  remains  to  the  state  directly  and  especially  to 
be  the  civic  shepherd  of  the  little  towns. 

Requirements  for  Incorporation.  There  is  no  logical 
reason  why  the  state  should  not  demand  of  new  towns 
that  they  show  their  ability  at  the  outset  of  municipal 


236  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

careers  to  meet  the  minimum  requirements  of  community 
life.  A  speculator,  assuming  inside  information  as  to 
the  plans  of  a  railway,  has  no  inherent  right  to  buy  up 
a  series  of  town  sites,  to  attract  a  few  settlers  by  false 
representations,  and  to  acquire  easy  municipal  powers 
from  the  state  for  a  series  of  experimental  communities 
lacking  all  sound  economic  basis.  Not  even  a  town  com- 
munity growing  naturally  out  of  the  country  and  needed 
to  serve  the  country,  is  entitled  to  organize  with  special 
civic  powers  under  the  state's  authority,  without  a  rea- 
sonable conception  of  its  municipal  duty,  some  use  of 
the  experience  of  others,  a  rational  plan  approximating 
some  definable  model  as  to  scale  and  type,  proper  sani- 
tary facilities  and  regulations,  and  other  adequate  ordi- 
nances and  resources  of  municipal  housekeeping.  The 
state  already  conditions  incorporation,  usually  upon  the 
number  of  inhabitants ;  but  there  are  considerations 
which  come  far  ahead  of  mere  size.  As  to  these,  the 
state  has  every  reason  to  erect  tests  and  to  exact  guar- 
antees. A  Commission  on  Incorporation  empowered  to 
examine  and  pass  upon  the  fitness  of  conmiunities  de- 
siring incorporation  would  logically  complete  the  state's 
exercise  of  its  function  as  program-maker  for  its  towns, 

THE    CHURCH    AS   THE   TOWN's   PROGRAM-MAKER 

The  Shepherding  of  Communities.  The  state  has 
passed  over  from  the  exclusive  educating  of  individuals 
to  the  educating  of  communities  as  such.  Should  not 
the  church  likewise  pass  over  from  the  exclusive  saving 
of  individuals  to  the  saving  of  communities  as  such  ?  If, 
having  saved  them,  the  constructive  task  of  the  church 
local  is  the  shepherding  of  individuals,  may  not  the  con- 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  237 

structive  task  of  the  church  collective  be  the  shepherding 
of  the  communities;  or  shall  the  state  shepherd  the  little 
towns,  and  the  church  harry  them  ?  It  has  harried  them 
in  the  past — by  sectarian  rivalry,  by  social  divisiveness, 
by  economic  exploitation.  IIow  can  it  be  otherwise  so 
long  as  the  state  is  one  and  the  churches  many  and 
competitive,  and  so  long  as  denominational  aims  and 
ambitions  are  in  direct  conflict  with  a  unified  program 
of  community  advance?  Of  course,  no  one  in  America 
wants  a  religious  counterpart  of  the  political  state, — 
an  authoritative  church,  however  right  and  up  to  date, 
wielding  the  spiritual  sword,  and  reducing  communities 
as  individuals  to  unquestioning  obedience.  But  this  is 
not  the  alternative.  What  is  necessary  and  possible  is 
that  there  be  some  democratic,  voluntary,  and  effective 
expression  of  the  common  stock  of  impulse,  ideals,  and 
methods,  which  are  actually  possessed  by  the  churches 
collectively.  These  must  be  organized  and  expressed  in 
such  a  way  as  shall  offer  a  common  Christian  evangel 
and  a  common  Christian  program  to  communities  as 
such.  Whatever  group  of  forces  and  agencies  actually 
affords  such  an  evangel  and  such  a  program  may  fairly 
and  deliberately  be  called  the  church,  at  least  in  tlie 
social  sense. 

The  Social  Gospel.  Now,  such  a  church  is  actually 
in  the  making  as  a  shepherd  to  the  community.  First, 
by  its  better  theology, — because  the  religious  thinking 
of  the  age  not  only  permits  but  compels  the  Christian 
man  to  regard  the  community  as  a  specific  object 
of  his  concern.  It  is  such  an  object  to  him  because 
he  feels  it  is  such  an  object  to  God.  Christianity 
has    always    strongly    insisted    that    the    family    is    a 


238  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

divine  institution  ordained  and  consummated  by  God. 
The  same  logic  insists  on  the  divine  institution  of  the 
city,  and — within  the  field  of  our  discussion — of  the 
town-and-country.  He  who  set  the  solitary  in  families, 
set  families  also  in  communities,  and  indissolubly  welded 
the  little  town  and  its  surrounding  farm  land  into  one 
natural  unit  of  community  and  religious  experience. 
First,  then,  by  a  social  gospel  the  church  is  becoming  a 
shepherd  to  the  communities. 

Co-operative  Organization.  This  is  the  second  great 
contribution  of  the  modern  church  to  its  towns.  The  co- 
operative and  federative  movements  of  American  Protes- 
tanism  have  their  most  effective  expression  in  the  Home 
Missions  Council,  an  organization  including  more  than 
thirty  denominational  boards  of  national  scope.  These 
boards  control  five-sixths  of  the  missionaries  working  in 
the  fifteen  northwestern  and  western  states,  which  in- 
clude practically  all  of  our  remaining  frontier,  and 
constitute  the  most  rapidly  developing  area  of  the  nation. 
Beneath  the  specific  agreements  as  to  policy  declared  by 
this  Council  and  accepted  by  its  constituent  denomina- 
tional boards,  is  the  fundamental  principle  that  the 
good  of  the  local  community  gives  the  law  to  all  religious 
organizations  working  within  it. 

The  State  as  a  Parish.  How  it  actually  works  out  in 
practice  on  a  large  scale  is  illustrated  in  western  Wash- 
ington, where  the  co-operating  Mission  Boards  are  united 
in  a  district  organization  of  the  Home  Missions  Council. 
The  district  covers  nineteen  counties  of  the  state,  and 
the  policies  determined  for  it  are  based  upon  a  religious 
survey  taken  in  1912  of  about  one  thousand  of  the  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  school  districts  in 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  239 

these  counties.  The  survey  concerned  a  school  popula- 
tion of  169,5'J8  children,  and  a  total  population  of  7:i2,- 
291.  The  results  of  the  survey  indicated  that  approxi- 
mately seventy  thousand  people  in  the  area  studied  were 
without  ade(|uate  religious  privileges,  but  that  on  "the 
other  hand  there  were  some  villages  and  towns,  and  even 
country  communities,  which  were  over-churched ;  com- 
peting churches  freiiuently  being  sustained  by  missionary 
money  and  engendering  strifes  in  their  communities."* 
As  a  result  of  the  survey  a  Continuation  Committee  was 
appointed  to  readjust  and  reapportion  overlapping  ter- 
ritories between  co-operating  denominations.  The  com- 
mittee is,  of  course,  purely  advisory,  but  in  1915  the 
committee  reports  several  cases  of  readjustment  of  com- 
petitive churches  and  that  in  no  case  has  there  been  fail- 
ure to  comply  with  its  recommendations. 

The  Community  Church.  The  constructive  achieve- 
ment of  the  committee  is  the  first  clear  definition  by  a 
joint  agency  of  the  Protestant  denominations  of  a  com- 
munity church  in  connection  with  some  particular  de- 
nomination but  so  broadened  in  its  terms  of  member- 
ship and  its  work  "as  to  include  all  Christians  living 
in  that  community  without  estranging  or  violating  any 
conscience."  "Specifically  the  community  church  is 
understood  to  be  a  body  of  Christians  worshipping  in  a 
certain  district,  representing  all  denominations  co-operat- 
ing with  the  Home  Missions  Council,  and  affiliated  with 
one  of  the  separate  denominations  but  alTording  fellow- 
ship and  Christian  privilege  for  every  Christian  within 
its  reach."     Christians,  who  by  reason  of  conscientious 

8  "Statement  of  Principles,"  Home  Missions  Council  of  Western 
Washington. 


240  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

adherence  to  the  peculiar  doctrine  or  polity  of  their  own 
denomination  cannot  unite  in  full  membership  are  to  be- 
come associate  members.  ' '  By  this  plan,  persons  may  re- 
tain membership  in  their  own  denomination,  be  regularly 
reported  to  it,  send  their  benevolent  contributions  to  its 
boards,  and  yet  co-operate  with  the  local  work  and  help 
sustain  it,  both  with  service  and  financial  support.  The 
interests  of  the  community  should  not  be  injured  nor 
hindered  by  our  differences  of  opinion ;  the  religious  life 
of  the  community  is  as  important  as  any  other  factor, 
and  every  person  ought  to  promote  it.  An  associate 
member  does  not  necessarily  endorse  the  doctrines  of 
the  denomination  carrying  on  the  enterprise,  nor  assume 
official  responsibility  in  the  local  organization,  but  as  it 
is  convenient  and  opportunity  affords  should  work 
on  committees,  in  the  Sunday  School  and  elsewhere." 
Any  community  church  organized  on  this  basis  is  prom- 
ised recognition  and  support  by  the  Home  Missions 
Council  against  possible  sectarian  rivalry.  In  towns 
where  an  over-supply  of  denominational  churches  al- 
ready exists,  the  committe  recommends  a  plan  for  a  sys- 
tematic and  co-operative  working  of  the  entire  surround- 
ing rural  area  in  essential  harmony  with  the  suggestions 
of  chapter  six  of  this  book.  Thus,  the  over-churched 
town  ceases  to  be  over-churched  by  including  its  tribu- 
tary country  in  its  aggressive  religious  ministries. 

Still  More  Inclusive  Federation.  The  Federal  Coun- 
cil of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America,  through  its 
Commission  in  Federated  Movements,  has  inaugurated 
a  still  more  comprehensive  plan  for  federating  in  the 
local  community  not  merely  for  the  denominational 
churches  but  the  interdenominational  agencies  like  the  Y. 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  241 

M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.  and  the  interdeuominuiional 
Sunday  School  movements.  Ultimately  it  hopes  to  work 
down  to  the  small  communities  with  practical  measures 
along  this  line.  The  restraining  and  directing  power  of 
the  ideal,  however,  outruns  the  creation  of  maciiinery  to 
express  it.  The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  adequate 
idea  is  well  established  in  a  thinking  of  American 
Protestantism,  that  conspicuous  and  successful  examples 
of  its  application  to  large  areas  are  now  available,  and 
that  the  agencies  for  its  further  development  and  appli- 
cation are  in  the  making.  The  church,  in  so  far  as  it 
has  embraced  the  community  as  such  as  an  object  of 
religious  service,  is  in  the  way  of  standing  side  by  side 
of  the  state  as  a  program-maker  for  its  little  towns. 

THE   TOWNS   THE   MAKERS   OF    THEIR   OWN   DESTINIES 

A  Farm  Under  Every  Farm.  The  first  general  evi- 
dence of  mental  maturity  in  the  American  people  has 
been  their  recent  sudden  realization  of  the  superficial 
character  of  the  preliminary  conquest  of  their  land.  So 
far,  it  has  been  the  hasty  taking  of  first  values.  Agri- 
culture and  industry  skimmed  the  surface  of  the  con- 
tinent. The  plow  but  scratched  the  soil.  Millions  of 
precious  metal?  went  into  the  dump  heap.  An  untold 
wealth  of  forest  was  burned  as  an  obstruction — merely 
to  clear  the  land.  The  first  comer  took  what  was  easily 
gotten  and  passed  on  to  other  virgin  fields.  But  now  the 
free  land  is  exhausted  and  the  mood  and  habits  which  its 
presence  wrought  are  as  out-of-date  as  the  ichthyosaurus. 
To  the  nation  under  this  perplexing  necessity  of  changing 
its  whole  attitude  toward  natural  wealth,  the  great  word 
of    the    new    agriculture    sounds    out:     **Go    deeper. 


242  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

There's  a  farm  under  every  farm."  The  entire  con- 
tinent is  to  be  conquered  anew — intensively.  We  are  to 
re-mine  the  tailings,  to  utilize  every  by-product,  to 
"gather  up  the  fragments,"  human  as  well  as  material. 
The  coftgervationist's  conscience  has  arrived,  and  with 
it  the  conservationist's  enthusiasm. 

The  Town  Under  Every  Town.  The  social  re-con- 
quest of  the  continent  is  no  less  universally  necessary 
than  its  material  reconquest.  No  ancient  moral  value 
is  equal  to  the  needs  of  the  present  hour ;  all  must  take 
on  profounder  versions.  The  cup  of  cold  water  only 
which  neighbourliness  gave  in  such  beautiful  simplicity 
must  now,  we  insist,  be  pure  water  in  a  clean  cup. 
Friendliness  is  hedged  about  with  social  responsibility 
and  can  only  free  herself  again  by  going  deeper  into 
human  relations  and  finding  spontaneity  and  joy  on  pro- 
founder  levels.  On  such  levels  the  heart  thrills  again 
with  new  vision  of  old  lands ;  energizes  at  the  task  of  re- 
building old  commonwealths ;  rejoices  in  the  re-direction 
of  ancient  forces.  There  is  new  capacity  of  enthusiasm 
for  old  causes  and  romance  in  the  re-discovery  of  old 
continents.  This  is  the  second  phase  of  our  American 
battle  for  civilization.  It  holds  the  destinies  of  our 
smaller  communities  as  it  holds  those  of  the  nation  itself. 
There's  a  town  under  every  town.  To  find  it  is  no 
superficial  task.  Really  to  get  down  into  it,  to  unlock 
its  possibilities,  to  release  its  powers  is  the  meaning  of 
community  betterment. 

A  Faith  Affirmed.  Those  who  mean  by  a  community 
betterment  precisely  the  making  over  of  the  American 
people — and  no  less — must  confess  that  they  stake  their 
all  upon  the  capacity  of  the  nation  for  a  general  and 


THE  TOWN'S  PROGRAM  243 

genuine  civic  revival.  The  question  is,  can  the  impulse 
to  make  the  common  life  better  be  universalized  and 
fixed  as  a  dominant  characteristic  of  our  land  and  our 
time'/  Can  it  be  democratized,  so  that,  whoever  initiates 
it,  whether  state  or  church ;  by  whatever  advocates  and 
experts  it  is  mediated,  the  communities  will  seize  upon  it 
and  make  it  indigenous,  stamping  it  with  their  own  spon- 
taneity and  originality  ?  To  answer  affirmatively  is  an 
act  of  sheer  faith.  Evidence  for  this  faith  is  not,  how- 
ever, wholly  unseen.  It  rests  partly  in  the  clearly 
marked  civic  movement  now  going  on  in  limited  spheres, 
but  also  in  the  remarkable  and  surprising  response  to 
civic  motive  on  the  part  of  most  unpromising  communi- 
ties whenever  it  is  adequately  and  enthusiastically  pre- 
sented. Whenever  one  has  said  in  his  heart  of  some 
sodden  Littleton,  "Here  at  least  it  will  not  work,"  his 
doubts  have  been  given  the  lie  by  some  man  of  courage 
who  tried  and  made  it  work.  Those  who  have  tried 
longest  and  most  devotedly  are  sure  that  the  surface 
phenomena  of  our  community  life  are  underlaid  with 
vitalities  waiting  to  be  released.  There  is  strength  in 
the  sub-soil  of  the  common  life.  Where  Uncle  Robert 
and  Aunt  Mary  lived  so  truly  and  died  so  devoutly — 
and  both  so  futilely  had  they  to  do  it  over  again  in  the 
same  way — there  are  roots  of  personal  character  which 
may  be  cultured  into  civic  virtue.  The  general  revival 
of  civic  life  waits  only  upon  efficiently  organized  and 
universalized  presentation  of  the  ideal  to  the  communities 
of  America. 

The  Consecration  of  Youth.  There  is  no  more  certain 
social  force  than  the  idealistic  hunger  of  each  new  gen- 
eration of  young  men  and  women.     Youth  is  synonymous 


244  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

with  the  power  of  a  glowing  vision.  It  has  no  power  not 
to  respond.  Here  is  something  to  count  on,  to  tie  to. 
"Its  going  forth  is  sure  as  the  morning."  Like  the 
widow's  cruse  of  oil  it  does  not  fail.  Nothing  which 
pertains  to  man  is  more  beautiful  or  dramatic  than  the 
great  procession  of  young  lives,  a  fair  proportion  of 
whom  are  always  eager  to  devote  themselves  to  altruistic 
adventure  if  the  call  comes  timely  and  clear.  There  is 
no  more  marked  nor  heartening  aspect  of  American  civil- 
ization than  this.  The  only  question  is  of  the  specific 
direction  of  these  self-devoted  lives.  Of  them  the  little 
town  furnished  a  disproportionate  share.  They  have 
gone  forth  mostly  to  far  fields,  to  the  social  service  of  the 
city,  to  foreign  missions.  To  such,  this  book  would  like 
to  believe  that  it  presents  a  direct  challenge  and  appeal. 
Home  is  the  nearest  spot  of  missionary  ground.  The 
little  town  is  a  field  for  altruistic  service  of  thrilling 
importance.  Here  stands  greatness  humbly  clad;  here 
patriotic  labour  is  involved  with  charm ;  here  deep  social 
processes  are  bound  up  with  intimate  personal  contacts; 
here  especially  the  high  fortunes  of  the  open  country  are 
to  be  centred  and  inspired  ;  here  lies  the  pleasant  middle- 
ground  through  which  if  one  will  have  it  so  the  Garden 
of  Eden  merges  into  the  City  of  God. 


SELECT  BIBLIOORAPHY 

Note. — Much  of  the  tollowinj,'  material  bears  only  indirectly 
upon  the  problems  of  the  little  town.  \\  iiat  is  appiicaljle  must  be 
sifted  out.  No  body  of  authoritative  literature  specifically  con- 
cerning the  little  town  exists,  except  in  faintest  beginnings. 

I.     American  Social  Evolution 

Carver,  Principles  of  Rural  Economics   (Boston,  1911). 

Cubherley,  Rural  Life  and  Education  (Boston,  1914). 

Ross,  "The  Agrarian  Revolution  in  the  Middle  West,"  North 
American  Review,  V.  190,  p.  377  (Sept.,  1909). 

Small  and  Vincent,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Society  (New 
York,  1894). 

Turner,  The  Rise  of  the  New  West  (New  York,  1906). 

*Vogt,  Rural  Sociology  (New  York,  1917). 

Devotes  several  excellent  chapters  to  the  village  and  its 
human  iypQ.  Fears  tliat  "failure  to  recognize  the  place 
of  the  village  in  relation  to  the  rural  community  has 
already  led  in  many  instances  to  erroneous  and  costly 
policies  of  organization  of  educational,  social  and  re- 
ligious life  in  unnatural  and  passing  rural  centres." 

Wilson,  The  Evolution  of  the  Country  Community   (Boston, 

1912). 

2.  The  Little  Town 

Anderson,  The  Country  Town  (New  York,  1915). 

*Farrington,  Community  Development   (New  York,  1915). 

"Primarily  for  the  use  of  the  small  town."  Largely 
from  the  commercial  club  standpoint. 

*Galpin,  The   Social  Anatomy  of  a   Rural   Community,  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  Research  Bulletin,  No.  34. 

*  Twenty  of  the  best  books  are  marked  with  a  star. 

245 


246  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

The  most  important  single  work  for  our  understanding 
of  the  little  town. 

Galpin,  Rural  Relations  of  the  Village  and  Small  City,  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  Bulletin,  No.  411. 

Gillin,  "Community  Development  and  the  State  University," 
Town  Development,  V.  12,  p.  99. 

*Hart,  Educational  Resoui'ces  of  Village  and  Rural  Communi- 
ties (New  York,  1914). 

Hartman,  "Village  Problems  and  Characteristics,"  Annals  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
V.  15,  p.  234. 

*McVe7j,  The  Making  of  a  Town  (Chicago,  1913). 

Brief,  systematic,  philosophical — confined  to  the  town 
itself;  ignores  its  essential  rural  relationships.  Excellent 
on  administration  of  town  government. 

3.  Surveys  and  Social  Studies 

a.  Survey  methods. 

*Aronovicij  Knovsdng  One's  Own  Community;  Suggestions 
for  Social  Surveys  of  Small  Cities  and  Towns  (American 
Unitarian  Association,  Boston,  1912). 

Comey,  A  Schedule  of  Civic  Surveys — (Massachusetts  Home- 
stead Commission,  Bulletin,  No.  5,  1916). 

Felton,  A  Survey  of  a  Rural  Community  Prepared  in  Out- 
line (Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presb3^erian 
Church,  New  York,  1915). 

Galpin,  Method  of  Making  a  Survey  of  a  Rural  Community, 
University  of  Wisconsin  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, Circular  No.  29  (1912). 

Wells,  A  Social  Survey  for  Rural  Communities  (New  York, 
1911). 

"A  practical  scheme  for  the  investigation  of  the  struc- 
ture, problems,  and  possibilites  of  rural,  village  and  other 
communities  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  church  and  its 
work." 


SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  247 

b.  Studies  of  Actual  Communities. 

*Brunner,  Co-opcratiou  in  CooixTsburfj  (New  York,  1016). 

Dunn,  An  Analysis  of  the  Social  Structure  of  a  Western  Town 
(Chicago,  189G). 

An  illuminating  study  of  the  development  of  Galesburg, 
111. 

Morrison,  Coopersburg  Survey  (Moravian  Country  Church 
Commission,  Pension,  Pa,  1914). 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions,  Department  of  Church 
and  Country  Life  and  University  of  Oregon,  Extension 
Division,  A  Rural  Sui^ey  of  Lane  Co.,  Oregon  (1916). 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions,  Department  of  Church 
and  Country  Life,  A  Rural  Survey  in  Maryland;  A  Rural 
Survey  in  Indiana  (1911) ;  A  Rural  Survey  in  Kentucky 
(1911^  New  York). 

*Sims,  A  Hoosier  Village:  A  Sociological  Study  (New  York, 
1912). 

Holds  that  the  village  must  constantly  lose  its  progressive 
elements,  and  must  itself  depend  for  progress  upon  exter- 
nal sources. 

4.  Regional,  Economic  and  Occupational  Background  of 
Little  Town  Fortunes 

Brigham,  Geographic  Influences  in  American  History  (Bos- 
ton, 1903). 

Brigham,  Commercial  Geography   (Boston,  1911). 

Hunt,  How  to  Choose  a  Farm  (New  York,  1906). 

Powell,  Co-operation  in  Agriculture  (New  York,  1913). 

Van  Hise,  Conservation  of  Natural  Resources  in  the  United 
States  (New  York,  1910). 

Warren,  Farm  Management  (New  York,  1914). 

5.  The  Country  Life  Movement 

Bailey,  The  Country  Life  Movement  (New  York,  1911). 
Butterfield,  Chapters  in  Rural  Progress  (Chicago,  1908). 


248  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Country  Life  Commission,  Report  of  (Government  Printing 
Office,  1909). 

Carver,  "The  Organization  of  a  Rural  Community"  (Year- 
book U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  1914,  pp.  89-138). 

Israel,  Unifying  Rural  Community  Interests  (New  York, 
1914). 

Plunkett,  The  Rural-Life  Problem  of  the  United  States  (New 
York,  1910). 

Sociology  of  Rural  Life,  Publication  of  the  American  Sociolog- 
ical Society,  v.  11  (1917). 

Symposium  on  Bural  Problems,  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  V.  15  (Phila- 
delphia, 1912). 

Wisconsin  Country  Life  Conference,  Annual  Reports  (Bulle- 
tins of  University  of  Wisconsin). 

6.  Literary  Studies  of  Little  Town  Character 

Fitch,  Homeburg  Memories  (Boston,  1915). 

A  genial  view  of  the  old  home,  humorously  expressed, 
but  none  the  less  sound. 

*Garland,  A  Son  of  the  Middle  Border  (New  York,  1915). 

Recognized  as  one  of  the  most  important  American 
autobiographies.  Its  central  interest  concerns  the  transi- 
tion of  a  iy^'icaX  American  from  country  to  little  town, 
and  from  town  to  city.  A  human  document  of  the 
greatest  value  but  of  little  sympathy  for  town  and 
country. 

Masters,  The  Spoon  River  Anthology  (New  York,  1915). 

A  well  remembered  literary  sensation.  A  marvellous 
characterization,  in  verse  of  high  merit,  of  every  man, 
woman  and  child  who  ever  lived  in  a  little  town — except 
the  good  ones.  The  work  of  a  rebel  against  little-town 
narrowness,  who  sees  chiefly  its  mean,  petty,  hypocritical 
and  evil  side.    Necessary  perhaps,  but  not  nice. 


SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPnY  249 

7.  Civic  Improvement 

a.  General. 

*  American  City,  The,  Town  and  Countrj'  Edition    (Monthly, 
New  York). 

The  host  current  record  of  civic  progress  in  all  lines. 
'Farwell,  Village  Improvement  (New  York,  1913). 

A  story  of  lotig  experience  in  the  New  England  village 
improvement  societies,  with  a  wealth  of  concrete  illustra- 
tion from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Ritchie,  "Building  a  Community  Through  Its  Resident  Forces" 

(American  City,  v.  17,  p.  42). 
*Waugh,  Rural  Improvement  (New  York,  1914). 

Tlie  principles  of  civic  art  applied  to  rural  conditions, 
including  village  improvement.  Interesting  and  im- 
portant. Deals  principally  with  betterment  of  external 
conditions. 

b.  Town  plan  and  heautification. 

*Bird,  Town   Planning  for   Small   Communities    (New  York, 

1917). 

Ft.  I,  a  general  sur\'ey  of  the  subject  in  twelve  chapters; 

Pt.  II,  the  planning  surveys  and  organization  of  Walpole, 

Mass. 
Culpin,   The   Garden   City  Movement  Up   to   Date    (Garden 

Cities  and  Town  Planning  Association,  London,  1914). 
Stark,    Steel    Corporation's    Industrial    Community    Develop- 
ment  (Reprint  from  the  Iron  Trade  Review,  Cleveland, 

1914). 

A  description  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation's 

model  town,  Fairfield,  Ala. 

c.  Health  and  Sanitation. 

Bailey,  School  Sanitation  and  Decoration   (New  York,  1809). 
Hunter,   Laboratory   Manual   of   Civic   Biology    (New   York, 
1916). 


250  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Gulick  and  Ayers.  Medical  Inspection  of  Schools  (New  York, 

1914). 
Lumsden,  A  Sanitary-Privy  System  for  Unsewered  Towns  and 

Villages,  U.   S.  Public  Health   Service,.  Bulletin  No.  89 

(Washington,  1917). 
Waters,  Visiting  Nurses  in  the  United   States    (New  York, 

1909). 

d.  Homes  and  Child  Life. 
Bosanquet,  The  Family  (New  York,.  1906). 

nail,    Youth,    Its    Education,    Regimen    and    Hygiene    (New 

York,  1906). 
Holt,  Care  and  Feeding  of  Children  (New  York,  1909). 
Kinne  and  Cooley,  Food  and  Household  Management   (New 

York,  1914). 
Kinne  and  Cooley,  Shelter  and  Clothing  (New  York,  1913). 
*McKeever,  Farm  Boys  and  Girls  (New  York,  1912). 
Rose,  Feeding  the  Family  (New  York,  1917). 

e.  ScJiools  and  Civic  Education. 

Bloomfield^tThe  Vocational  Guidance  of  Youth  (Boston,  1911). 

Betts  and  Hall,  Better  Rural  Schools  (New  York,  1914). 

Brown,  The  Readjustment  of  a  Rural  High  School  to  the 
Needs  of  the  Community  (U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin,  No.  20,  Washington,  1912). 

*Cubherley,  Riiral  Life  and  Education  (Boston,  1914). 

Dressier,  Rural  School  Houses  (U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin  585). 

Johnson,  County  Schools  of  Agriculture  and  Domestic  Econ- 
omy in  Wisconsin  (U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Of-" 
fice  of  Experiment  Stations,  Bulletin  No.  242,  Washing- 
ton, 1911). 

Holmes,  Backward  Children  (Indianapolis,  1917). 

Knorr,  Consolidated  Rural  Schools  and  the  Organization  of  a 
County  System  (U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Office 


SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  251 

of  Experiment  Stations,  Bulletin  No.  232,,  Washington, 

1910). 
Foght,  The  American  Rural  School  (New  York,  1910). 
Eobinson    and    Jencks,    Agincultural     Instruction     in     High 

Schools    (U.    S.    Bureau    of   Education,    Bulletin    No.    6, 

Washington,  1913). 
Tarbell,    A    Village    Lihrar>',    Publications    of    Massachusetts 

Civic  League  (Boston). 

/.  Churches. 

Athearn,  The  Church  School  (Boston,  1914). 

A   comprehensive   program   of  religious   "xiucation,   in- 
volving the  internal  reorganization  of  the  local  church. 
Beard,  The  Story  of  John  Fredrick  Oberlin  (Boston,  1909). 

The  classic  example  of  community  betterment  through 
the  church,  interestingly  narrated. 
Brunner,    The   New    Country    Church    Building    (New    York, 
1917). 

"Intended  as  much  for  the  church  of  the  rural  village 
as  for  the  church  of  the  open   country'."     Gives  many 
plans    of    buildings    and    discusses    equipment    for    the 
socially-minded  church. 
Douglass,  The  New  Home  Missions  (New  York,  1914). 

An  account  of  the  social  re-direction  of  ecclesiastical 
statesmanship. 
Home  Missions  Council  of  Western  Washington,  Statement  of 

Principles  (Seattle,  1915). 
Interdenominational    Commission    of    Maine,     The     Country 
Church   (Lewiston,  1914). 

Outlines    four   types  of   federated   churches — discusses 
community  aspects  of  religion. 
Macfarland,  The  Progress  of  Church  Federation   (New  York, 

1907). 
•Mills,  The  Making  of  a  Country  Parish  (New  York,  1914). 

The  story  of  the  religious  reorganization  of  Benzie  Co., 


252  THE  LITTLE  TOWN 

Mich.,  around  Benzonia  as  its  natural  centre.    A  notabl* 

example  well  described. 
Bitchie,  Community  Work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.   (New  York, 

1917). 
Wilson,  The  Church  at  the  Center  (New  York,  1914). 

A  partial  recognition  that  its  problems   are   different 

from  those  of  the  church  of  the  open  country. 

g.  Commercial  Organization  and  Retail  Merchandising. 

Brand,  Commercial  Organizations;  U.  S.  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor,  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  S.  P.  Series, 
No.  60  (1912). 

Harvard  University/,  Bureau  of  Business  Research,  publica- 
tions. 

"Huntington  Plan  of  Organizing  a  Community"  (American 
City,  V.  16,  p.  21,  Jan.,  1917). 

The  compacting  of  a  disintegrating  community  upon  its 
natural  agricultural  basis. 

*Neystrom,  Retail  Selling  and  Store  Management  (New  York, 
1914). 

A  practical  text  book  prepared  in  the  Extension  De- 
partment of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 
8.  Development  and  Enrichment  of  Community  Life. 

a.  Recreation  and  Social  Life. 

*  Curtis,  Play  and  Recreation  for  the  Open  Country  (Boston, 

1914). 
Bancroft,  Games  for  the  Playground,  Home,  School  and  Gym- 
nasium (New  York,  1909). 

*  Johnson,  Education  by  Plays  and  Games  (Boston,  1907). 
Lee,  Play  in  Education  (New  York,  1915). 

(See  also  Perry,  under  c,  below.) 

6.  Civic  arts. 
Community  Music  and  Drama,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Ex- 
tension Division  Bulletin,  G.  S.  No.  638  (1917). 


SELECT  BIHLKXJKAPHY  253 

Farnsworth,     Folk     Songs,     Chanteys     and     Singing     Games 

(Gray,  191(3). 
Pageant  of  Thetford,  Book  of  words,  etr. 
Tanner,  Pageant  of  tlie  Little  Town  of  X  (Publications  of  the 

Massachusetts  Civic  League). 

(See  also   Waugh,  under  7,  above.) 

c.  Community  Centers. 
*Perry,  Community  Center  Activities  (New  York,  1916). 
Preston,   The   Community   Center    (State  of   Washington   De- 
partment of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  20). 
"Rural  Social  Centers,"  University  of  Wisconsin,  Bulletin  No. 

234. 
Thoma.'^on,    Suggestions    for    Community    Centers    (State    of 

Washington  Department  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  26). 
Ward,  The  Social  Center  (New  York,  1913). 

9.  Local  Government. 
Dunn,  The  Community  and  the  Citizen  (Boston,  1907). 
"The  Advance  of  the   City  Manager  Movement"    (American 

City,  V.  17,  pp.  533-548). 

A  s^Tnposium  on  the  movement  as  it  existed  at  the  end 

of  1917,  with  complete  list  of  to\\Tis  and  cities  wliich  have 

adopted  it. 
'Fairlee,  Local  Government  in  Counties,  Towns  and  Villages 

(New  York,  1906). 


INDEX 


Abnormal  types  in  little  towns, 

92,  l.n.  152 
Agriculture:       dependence       of 

towns  on,   lOG;   intensive  and 

extensive,    47,    71;    primitive 

in  England,  54 
Agricultural  fairs,  24 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  3fl 
American  City   (periodical),  5 
Amusements,  24 
Anamosa,  Iowa,  45 
Architecture,  public,   173 
"Association  Men,"  146 
Automobile,  elTect  of,  70 

Bankers,  social  value  of,  70 
Baseball,  HI,  24 
Bellcviile,  Kansas,  21 
Benzonia,  Mich.,  145 
"Black  Belt."  60 
Boy  Scouts,  190,  206,  208 

Camp  Fire  Girls,  190,  208 

Canada,  47 

Census,  U.  S.,  4,  41 

Charity,  24,  153 

Chautauqua  courses,  24,  81 

Childhood.  86 

Churches:  architecture  of,  174; 
community  service  of,  139; 
denominational  exchange  of, 
143;  farmer's  relation  to,  60; 
internal  reorganization,  133, 
137 ;  non-competitive  organi- 
zation of,   148;    social  gospel 


of.  237;  standards  for,  13S 

Cities:  competition  with  towns, 
46;  congestion  in,  75;  distri- 
bution, 26;  influence  of,  12; 
overtlow  into  towns,  37 

Civic  anniversaries,   109 

Civic  architecture,  101,  175 

Civic  centres.  lUl,  104 

Civic  improvement,  agencies  of, 
156,  180,  189;  contests,  96; 
inefTiciency  in,  205;  leader- 
ship in,  180,  220;  principles 
of,  99,  215;  program  of,  162, 
184 

Civic  forum,  160 

Clinton,  Iowa,  66,  111 

Commercial  organization,  80, 
101 

Commission  government,  194 

Community  church,  239 

Community,  method  of  discov- 
ering, 62 

Co-operation,  between  town  and 
country.     111;     of     farmers. 

Country :  organized  around  cen- 
tres, 62 

Coopersburg,  Pa.,  221 

Country-life  movement,  6 

Counties,  61,  187 

County  seats,  42 

Dakotas,  the,  36 
Dancing,  24 
De  Kalb,  111.,  69 
Denominationalism:     evils    and 
remedies,  143 
255 


256 


INDEX 


Democracy,  81,  175,  177,  243 
Density  of  population,  27 
Douglas  County,  Minn.,  201 

Eastern  states,  33,  44,  62 
Educational  policies,  7 
Exhibits,  civic  improvement  ex- 
perts, 175,  181 

Farmers:    isolation  of,  55,  76; 

retired,  83;  widening  outlook 

of,  68 
Federal    Council    of    Churches, 

240 
Foreigner,  in  little  towns,  84 
Forest  Hills,  Long  Island,  101 
Frontier,  55 

Galpin,  C.  J.,  51 
Genius,  178 
Good  roads,  68 

Hartman,  217 

Homes:    beautification  of,   125; 
industries  in,  123;  public  as- 
pect of,  121;  social  activities 
in,  126 
Home  gardens,  123 
Home  missions,  190 
Home  Missions  Council,  238 
Health,  of  school  children,  25 
Hutchinson,  Dr.  Woods,  128 

Illinois,  29,  36 

Iowa,  29,  36,  45 

Income  of  town  families,  22 

Incorporation  of  towns,  9;  in- 
fluences determining,  33; 
method,  14;  powers  conferred 
by,  15,  197;  requirements  for, 
235 

Indiana,  45,  105 


Individualism,  a  hindranc*  to 
social  progress,  92,  225 

Industries,  as  cause  of  towns, 
39;  localization  in  United 
States,  107;  conditions  of 
success,  107 

Institutions,  88 

Inter-denominational  adjust- 
ments, 143 ;  organizations, 
240 

Irrigation,  71 

Kansas,  36,  189 

Land  surveying,  system  of,  50 

Law  enforcement,  117 

Leagues  of  municipalities,  191, 
199 

Legislation:  recent,  relating  to 
towns,  71,  197,  199 

Le  Grand,  Oregon,  196 

Libraries,  158 

Lindsborg,  Kansas,  170 

Liquor  traffic,  117 

Little  towns:  advantages  of 
life  in,  76,  93;  appearance, 
78;  attitude  toward  city,  12; 
toward  country,  14,  59 ;  city's 
attitude  toward,  5 ;  character- 
istics, 53,  77;  conditions  of 
influence,  35;  country's  atti- 
tude toward,  6;  defined  by 
population  limits,  11;  dis- 
tinctive character  of,  9;  dis- 
tribution of,  26,  31;  economic 
classification  of,  37;  educa- 
tion, 23;  function  of  rural 
leadership,  10;  improvement 
of,  97 ;  limitations  of,  47,  99 ; 
multiplication  of,  32;  natural 
history  of,  56 ;  occupations  in, 
22,  78;  prospect  of  growth, 
43,  48;  reputation  of,  3;  sec- 


INDEX 


257 


tiuiial  vuriution  l)i'twi'i'ii,  liH, 
58,  HuppurU-d  liy  upriculture, 
28;  surveys  of  artual  townn, 
20,  221  ,  typos  of.  Kl 

Local  j^overnment:  defpcts  of, 
1!I2;  lu't'tl  of  new  unit  of,  JU.'J 

Louiciiaua,  29 

"Main  Street,"  78 

Massachusetts,  1!)7,   1!KS 

Mental  characteristics  of  town 
people,  12 

Merchaiidizin<^,  10!) 

Metropolitan  areas,  39 

Middleman,  07 

Middle  western  states,  18,  34, 
30,  44,  03,  83 

Minnesota,  36 

Missionary  impulse,  72 

Mississippi,  29 

Missouri,  30,  45,  152,  197 

Moving  pictures,  24 

Model  towns,  101 

"Moonlight  schools,"  132 

Moral  control,  115 

Moravian  Country  Church  Com- 
mission, 223 

Mormons,  73 

]^Iunicipal  government,  194 

Music,  social  and  civic  signifi- 
cance, 170;  illustration  of, 
172 

National  Social  Unit  Organiza- 
tion, 214 
Nebraska,  36 
Xeighhourliood,  54,  103 
New  England,  8,  33,  oo,  72 
New  Jersey,  32,  44 
New  York*  36.  45,  197 
North  Carolina,  29 

Ohio,  45 


OUJahoma,  32 

Old  age,  88 

Oregon  City,  Oregon,  148 

Organizations    for    civic    lietter 
ment:   example  of,  222,   prin- 
cijjles  of,  2ti0,  213;  suggested 
eclieme  of,  232;  when  are  new 
organizations  needed':  155 

Pageants,  176 

Parent  Teachers       associations, 

208 
Pennsylvania,  45 
Personality:  exaggerations, 

92;   place  in   little  town,  5>4; 

superficial  interpretations  of, 
:J3 
Physiography, 
Play    Ground    and     Hecreatioa 

Association  of  American.  190 
Play,  social  significance  of,  157 
Professional  classes,  81,  83,  91 
Public  health,  25,  113 
Public  utilities,  79 

Railroads,  40 
Recreation,  81,  157 
Religion,  as  civic  force,  16C 
Retired  farmer,  83 
Richland  Center,  Wis.,  203 
Ruralism,     philosophy     of,     8; 
consequences  for  education,  7 
Rural  leadership,  10 
"Rurbanism,"   51,  61,   166 

Saluda,  N.  C,  177 

Sanitation,  114 

Sauk  City,  Wis ,  52 

Schools:  adaptation  of,  127; 
administration  of,  201  ;  com- 
munity service  by,  129;  con- 
solidation   of,    201;     use    of 


258 


INDEX 


school  plant,  198,  209;  voca- 
tional  emphasis   in,    128 
School   district:    national    unit 

for  200 
Science,    applied    to   civics,    98, 

104 
Sector      and      zone      plan      of 

church  organization,  149 
Social  classes,  90 
Social  centres,  164 
Social  control,  116,   118 
Social  life  and  standards,  115 
Social  surveys,  161,  223 
Social   units,   natural   vs.   arti- 
ficial, 51,  200 
Southern  states,  34,  44,  70 
Speculation  in  land,  58 
"Spoon   River  Antliology,"   157 
Spring  Valley,  Wis.,  199 
South  Carolina,  29 
States:  civic  activities  of,  188, 

233 
Sunday  schools,  134,  241 
Survey  methods,  259 


Taxation,  15 
Texas,  98 
Thetford,  Vt.,  177 
Town  manager  plan,  195 


Town  planning,  100 

University:  civic  service  of, 
233;  of  Kansas,  189,  235;  of 
Oregon,  235;  of  Wisconsin,  8, 
51,  110,  189,  234 

"Urban"  vs.  "Rural,"  4,  9 

Urban  superiorities,  12 

U.  S.  Steel  Corporation,  101, 
102,  114 

Utah,  73 

Village  Impro\ement  Societies, 

72 

Walworth     County,     Wis.,     61, 

202 
Washington,  State  of,  238 
Washington,  Pa.,  69 
Western  states,  32,  35,  46 
Wibaux,  Mont.,   141 
Wisconsin,  200,  234 
Woman:   sphere  in  little  town, 

79,  87 
World  movements,  town's  part 

in,  181 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Ill,  187,  199,  208, 

241 
Youth,  86,  243 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


:^»^i 


I v^^E 


